. PRINCETON, N. .J.
SAMUEL AGNEW,
BX 5037 .H38 1831 v. 6
Hawker, Robert, 1753-1827.
The works of the Rev. Robertl
Hawker . . .
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2014
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THE WORKS
REV. ROBERT HAWKER, D. D.
LATE VICAB OF CHARLES, PLYMOUTH.
A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS,
BY THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, D.D.
MINISTER OF STROUD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
IN TEN VOLUMES,
VOL. VI.
PRINTED FOR EBENEZER PALMER,
18, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXl
PRINTED BY E. JUSTIN'S & SON,
BRICK LANE, SPITALFIELDS.
CONTENTS OF VOL. VI.
THE POOR MAN'S CONCORDANCE AND DICTIONARY TO THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES.
THE
POOR MAN'S CONCORDANCE
AND
DICTIONARY TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES,
BOTH OF THE
®lb ant) Sett) IZmamtM :
ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER,
AND CONTAINING, IN ADDITION TO THE USUAL LITERAL EXPLANATION
OF WORDS, SHORT DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL ESSAYS UPON
CERTAIN POINTS OF THE TRUTHS OF GOD.
VOL. VI.
C
PREFACE.
I have been prompted to the work proposed in the title page,
from a humble hope, that under the blessing of God the Holy
G host, it may be rendered useful to the Christian world in ge-
neral ; and yet more particularly so, to that handful of the
people, who read my Poor Man's Commentary on the
Bible, lately published in penny numbers. It struck me, that
a work of this kind, might form a proper Appendix to it, and be
found not a little helpful to serious readers. Under this im-
pression, 1 have engaged in this service ; and for their accom-
modation, have directed the bookseller to publish an edition of
it, upon the same plan and form as the Commentary. May the
Lord commission both to his glory !
There can need no recommendation of the word of God,
more than its own intrinsic excellency. In the Jewish Church,
so infinitely important was it considered, that the prince of the
people was enjoined, " To write a copy of the Law of the Lord
with his own hand in a book ; and to read in it all the days of
his life : that he might learn to fear the Lord his God ; and that
his heart should not be lifted up above his brethren." (Dent,
xvii. 18—20.)
How vastly increased is the obligation in the Christian church,
which adds to the Old Testament Scripture, the whole confir-
mation of the New ; and compriseth within its life-giving con-
tents, every thing that can be called interesting, in reference to the
Person, Work, Character, Offices, and Relations of the Lord
Jesus Christ! which hath indeed, in the fullest sense of the word,
" the promise of the life that now is, and that wh'ch is to come."
b 2
4 PREFACE.
Here, the claim of the Word of Life is upon every soul !
Here, both high and low, rich arid poor, the king and the
beggar, stand upon a level. And here, from hence must issue,
the final decision of every man's everlasting state. " The word
(saith Jesus) that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day." (John xii. 48.) Many have reproached themselves
in a dying hour, for having neglected the study of the word of
life. But never was it known in the annals of mankind, that any
in the close of life regretted that he had regarded the things of
the world too little, and the Bible too much.
It will be highly proper that the reader should be informed in this
place, and before he enters upon the work here presented to him,
what is proposed in the contents of it : that he may not expect more
from it than is intended, and in the end find himself disappointed.
He should be told then, that the present Concordance, is
meant to differ in a great measure, from all preceding Dic-
tionaries of the kind. The author wishes to compress into as
small a compass as possible, all that is useful in a v ay of ex-
planation, so as to pass over nothing that is essential, and at the
same time to notice nothing that is superfluous. Hence many
words will be omitted, whose obvious meaning, in the present
day of knowledge, is so well understood, as to render their in-
sertion here unnecessary. While on the other hand, some, that per-
haps are but just glanced at in former Concordances, (but which
according to the author's view demand more attention) will have a
larger discussion. In short, the present design aims rather to
be useful than large ; to suit the humble Christian more than the
learned. The reader is requested to keep in remembrance,
through the whole of the work, that it is the Poop M \ N 's Co S -
cor dan ce. And to all such it is hoped, that what is here of-
fered, under the divine blessing, will prove helpful, in " making
wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ
Jesus !"
One word more I would beg to offer, by way of Preface :
namely, to observe, that with a view to greater usefulness, I have
sometimes judged it might be profitable, when giving the names
of persons, and of places, to direct the reader to the original
PREFACE. O
word or root, from whence either hatli been derived. It will
not be unfrequently found that much meaning is veiled under it.
And in doing this, I have only followed the plan of our old
Bibles, whose marginal readings are truly valuable on this
account. It is well known to all lovers of Biblical truths, that
it was the uniform custom with our fathers in the church of
God, and from the earliest period, to own God in his pro-
vidences, by giving names to persons and places, when at any
time receiving some more than ordinary manifestation of divine
favour. Thus Abraham called the mount of deliverance in a
critical moment, Jehovah Jireh. Jacob styled the place
where the visions of the Lord began with him, Bethel; and
Moses was so called by his mother, from being drawn out of
the water. And Hannah, no less from the same view of the
Lord, had her Samuel. And the margin of the Bible, at each
of those histories, as well as in numberless other instances of a
like nature, hath thrown great light upon the subject, in giving
their explanation. (See Gen. xxii. 14. Gen. xxviii. 19- Exod.
ii. 10. 1 Sam. i. 20.) It hath been my endeavour to render
this department of the Poor Man's Concordance particu-
larly useful, by adopting the same plan. And I venture to per-
suade myself, that I shall have thereby performed no unaccept-
able service to the truly pious reader.
Perhaps, with some readers, an apology may be thought ne-
cessary, that I have entered upon this service, in sending forth
before the Public a Concordance before that 1 have finished
my Commentary. But the truth is, I have, through grace, con-
cluded my writings on the Old Testament Scripture ; and many
months since set up my Eben-ezer upon that occasion. What I
propose therefore by this Concordance, is intended only by way
of a parenthesis, between my finishing the Commentary on the Old
Testament, and my entering on the New. I hope very shortly,
if the Lord spares, (and long before my Printer is ready forme,)
to re-assume that soul-refreshing service of the sacred word, and
of going over the gospel of the ever blessed God ; and sure I
am, that when I have closed my Concordance, which furnisheth
G FUEFAt'E.
both profit and amusement for my leisure hours, 1 shall enter
on the remaining engagement of the Commentary, w ith increas-
ing earnestness and delight. In the meantime, I take occasion
in this place, to beg an interest in the prayers of the faithful,
for those, and indeed all my other poor labours in my honoured
Lord's household ; commending both myself and them to the
Master's blessing.
I am well aware that I am proposing to myself great under-
takings, with slender means ; and marking out much to be done
in the remainder of life, when but little of life itself remains to be
filled up. Hastening now fast to the boundary of time, as it
stands with me, it might be expected from my declining years,
that I should rather retire from past labours than commence
new ones. But I have long known that if " the pillar of the
cloud " go before in the way, it matters not what year we count
in the Arithmetic of human life. That sweet promise is sure,
it hath never yet failed, " As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.''
If the Lord's glory be the end proposed, the Lord's grace will
furnish means to the accomplishment. And if the Lord be
pleased to appoint that I am to finish life, before that I have
finished my proposed labours, it will be but to leave that imper-
fect, which forms a part in all the imperfections of human nature.
And surely no man can propose to himself a sweeter close to
the whole of his pilgrimage upon earth, than to depart with
the Word of God in his hand, and Christ in his heart, the hope
of glory. Amen.
POOR MAN'S CONCORDANCE
TO THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES.
A
A. In the very opening- of this Concordance, I
cannot pass over the first letter, which the He-
brews call Aleph, and which they pronounce A.
And I do this the rather, because, as the Greeks
call their first letter Alpha, and our adorable
Redeemer graciously condescended to call himself
by that name ; so equally applicable is Aleph, to
the person of Jesus. Indeed, as if to shew the
infinite fulness and comprehensiveness of his na-
ture and character, the Lord Jesus took the
names, both of Alpha and Omega : the former, the
first ; and the latter, the last, in the letters of the
Alphabet. There is no letter before Alpha, and
none after Omega. Nothing can be more strik-
ingly characteristic of Christ. For as Christ, he
was, and is, and ever will be, the first letter in all
Jehovah's alphabet ; and the last, in all the ulti-
mate design of his glory. (See Rev. i. 8. Rev.
xxi. 6. Rev. xxii. 13.) Now the word Aleph is
expressive also of a first, a leader, or chief, and
sovereign person. So that in this sense, Jesus is
Aleph, as well as Alpha. And it is still worthy
of farther remark, that as the sound of the Aleph,
3 AB
or A, in Hebrew, is only a soft breathing as it
were, and needs nothing more to form it, than the
mere motion of the lips ; it may be supposed, to
have a peculiar reference to Him, who first
" breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life ;
and man became a living soul." (Gen. ii. 7.)
AARON. Son of Amram, and the^elder brother of
Moses. He was of the tribe of Levi. (Exod. vi.
19, 20.) His name is derived from Har, a Moun-
tain : and consequently signifies somewhat great
and lofty. And when we consider, to what an high
honour Aaron was called ; to be the type of Him,
who, in the everlasting nature of his office, was, and
is, Jehovah's High Priest ; both the altar, and the
offering, the sacrifice, and the sacrificer, through
whom alone, all offerings must be presented :
surely, none taken from among men, could be
more great and lofty in office than Aaron. The
history of Aaron, incorporated as it is with that of
Moses, fills a large part in the books of Exodus,
Leviticus, and Numbers. But the great eminency
of his character is formed from his becoming so
illustrious a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
thing in his priestly office ministered to this one
point. Indeed the whole law, and consequently
the priesthood, became "a shadow of good things to
come ; but the body, which formed that shadow,
was Christ." (Col. ii. 17. Levit. xvi. 2, Numb,
xvi. 46, 47.)
ABADDON. This word signifies a Destroyer. As
such, it is given to the apostate angel of the bot-
tomless pit, and very properly suits him. Hi:>
whole pursuit, in scouring the earth, is, we are
told, as " a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour." (SeeRev.ix.il. 1 Pet. v. 8. See also
Devil. Satan.)
ABAGTHA. One of the chamberlains of Persia. His-
9
name, if Hebrew, is compounded of Ab, father,
and Gath, a press : probably, he was the " master of
the wine-press." (Esther i. 10.)
ABANA. A river of Damascus, made memorable
on account of Naaman's leprosy. Its name is
compounded of Aben, a stone, and Bana, to build.
The Syrian prided himself on the greatness of this
river, and contemned the sacred streams of Jordan.
His conduct was not unsimilar to modern Syrians
in nature ; who think high of their own moral
excellency, and cannot brook the necessity of being
washed from the leprosy of sin, in the blood of
Christ. May we not say with the poor captive
servant in the house of Naaman : Would God
that sinners, conscious, like Naaman, of their dis-
ease, " were with the Lord God of the prophets,
for he would recover them of their leprosy !" (See
2 Kings v. 1—14.)
ABAR1M. These were several smaller mountains,
or hills, of rising ground, beyond Jordan, in the
country of Moab; which went by the name
of Abarim. Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, were in
the number. Nebo became ever-memorable, as
being the sacred spot where Moses the man of
God died. (Num. xxxiii. 48. Deut. xxxii. 49, 50.
Deut. xxxiv. 1.)
ABBA. A Syriac word, sinifying Father. It is thrice
used in the New Testament. Once, by the Lord
Jesus, (Mark xiv. 36.) and twice by his servant
the apostle Paul. (Rom. viii. 15. and Gal. iv. 6.)
It is a word of peculiar tenderness ; and I could
wish that the real and full meaning of it was
strongly impressed on the mind of every regene-
rated believer. It would tend to give great confi-
dence and comfort in a dark and trying hour. David
Levi, in his Lingua Sacra, derives it from a root,
which signifies, desire, delight, complacency, satis-
10
faction : and implying' no less, special interest of
relationship, as between the nearest of all connec-
tions. And agreeably to this account of the
word, it is remarkable, that though the word, in
its extensive sense, signifies the Ad, or Head, and
Lord of a family ; yet a slave, or menial servant,
was never allowed to use it in addressing the Ab.
T very earnestly beg the reader not to lose sight
of this view of the word Abba, but to let it possess
a suitable place, equal to its importance, in his
remembrance. For if it was so specially confined,
among the people of the East, to the children of a
family ; and Jesus and his people in him, are en-
joined to use it on this account; can any thing
more strikingly prove their relationship ? And I
cannot but express my hope, that if the reader of
this Poor Man's Concordance, is enabled, by
grace, to see his own personal privilege herein,
and can enter into a proper apprehension of the
word, in this most endearing view, he will be led
to discover the sweetness and blessedness of it,
and from henceforth adopt it, in all his approaches
to the throne of God in Christ. And how delight-
fully in this sense, doth it explain to us that pas-
sage of the apostle, in his epistle to the Galatians ;
where he saith, "Because ye are sons, [not because
ve are to be made so, but because ye are already
sons] God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." (Gal.
iv. 6.)
While T am upon this word Abba, Father, I
cannot forbear adding to those observations, though
in a cursory manner, a remark upon the word
Amman, Mother. For it is from the same root,
and is also of the like peculiarity of tenderness,
in reference to the church of Jesus ; which, as the
apostle saith, (including both that in heaven and in
11
earth, for they are but one and the same,) "is the
mother of us all." (Gal. iv. 26.) We meet with
the several branches of the same root in Scripture,
according to the several relations arising out of
it ; but they are all one and the same family.
(Epbes. iii. 14, 15.) Hence Zion is called, and by
the Lord himself, the " Virgin daughter (the
Almah) of Zion." (Isaiah xxxvii. 22.) So again
she is spoken of as the sister (Ruhamah)
(Hosea ii. 1.) And it is no uncommon thing for
Christ to call his church by all these names. (See
Song iv. 9, 10, 12.) And when Isaiah was com-
missioned to proclaim to the church, the subject
of the miraculous conception, he used the same
word as the Lord did of Zion. " Behold, a virgin,
(Almahj shall conceive." (Isaiah vii. 14.) I venture
to believe that if the recollection of these names,
all springing as they do from one and the same
source, were frequent in the believer's remem-
brance, they would much refresh the soul. And I
think it worthy of yet farther remark, that there is
a beautiful sameness between the first cry of na-
ture, in the infancy of our being, and this language
of grace when the souls of believers are first born
to God. It was said by the prophet concerning
Him, whom he predicted, that " before the child
should know to refuse the evil and choose the
good," the event leading to it should be accom-
plished. (Isaiah vii. 16.) And it must be truly
said, that before the cry of the soul, in the new
birth of grace, goes forth in Abba, or Amman, the
apprehending union, interest, and relationship in
Christ with his church, had been settled long
before, even from all eternity.
Though I have already far exceeded, under
this article, the ordinary limits to be observed in a
work of this kind, yet I must beg to trespass a
12
little farther, by way of confirmation of the obser-
vations made upon it.
The special and personal interest of the word
Abba, derives another authority, from the customs
and manners of the East. It is well known, that
the ancient nations of the Arabs, retain many of
the usages we read of in sacred history. And al-
though they know nothing of the true religion of
the patriarchs, yet in provincial acts and habits,
they are much the same people that they were,
two or three thousand years ago. Hence, among
many proofs in point, which might be given in con-
firmation of this sameness of manners, the mode
of salutation is one, in which there is nothing
changed. We find among the patriarchs, the
general expression was, " Peace be to you." (Gen.
xliii. 23.) In the days of the Judges, the saluta-
tion was the same. (Judges xix. 20.) So in the
days of David, (1 Sam. xxv. 6.) and in the days of
our Lord, and by Christ himself. (John xx. 19.)
In like manner the limitation of the word Abba is
still the same as ever, not being brought into com-
mon use, but wholly restricted to relations, and of
the nearest and tenderest kind.
One proof more. In the common acts of re-
spect observed in the East, when servants do re-
verence to their masters, or superiors, it is always
done by kissing the feet, or the garment. Hence
the poor woman we read of, Luke vii. 38. But
when children meet their parents, and do rever-
ence, they kiss the hand, or the head. Hence the
father in the parable. (Luke xv. 20.) Moreover,
the posture which is observed upon those occasions,
differs materially according to the rank of the
parties. From inferiors, in giving what is called the
Asslem-mah, (Salutation) they always offer it, by
laying their right hand upon their breast. Persons
A B
13
of equality, or relations, do it by kissing the hand,
head, or shoulder of each other. So Dr. Shaw
relates in his Travels to Aleppo, page 301. Let
the reader connect this with Jacob kissing- his son,
and the church's call unto Christ. (Song i. 2.)
How beautiful and striking both cases ! How little
the change made in those things, in a period of
near four thousand years !
From the whole of these observations, I cannot
but conclude, that the word Abba hath a peculiar
sweetness in it, and is intended to intimate what a
nearness and dearness of affinity there is, between
Christ and his church. And I venture to be-
lieve, that our holy faith, not only warrants the
use of it, but enjoins it, from the personal union,
and oneness, of the Lord Jesus Christ with our
nature. And under such high encouragement and
authority, I confess, that I feel a disposition, upon
every occasion, to adopt it, considering it the pe-
culiar privilege of all true believers in Christ, to
bring it into constant use, whenever they draw
nigh to a throne of grace. See Ammi.
ABEDNEGO. This name was given to Azariah,
by the Chaldeans. (See Daniel, i. 7.) I should not
have thought it necessary, in a work of this kind,
to have noticed the change of name ; neither
perhaps the name itself, more than many others,
to be met with in Scripture, which I shall pass by ;
had it not been for the purpose of making an ob-
servation upon it ; and which I hope will not be
found improper or unprofitable. J humbly con-
ceive, that the motive with the Chaldeans, for
changing the names of the children of the
captivity, was somewhat more than the natura-
lizing them. The Hebrew, and the Chaldee lan-
guage were very similar. The Chaldeans per-
fectly understood the Hebrew names. And they
14
no less knew, how tenacious Hebrew parents were
to give names to their children, which bore some
relation to the Lord God of their fathers. In
changing- their names therefore, they not only de-
signed to make them forget their beloved Jerusa-
lem, but the yet more beloved Lord God of Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what a change they
wrought here, in the instance of this man !
Azariah, or more properly speaking, Azar-Jah,
meant, as the words themselves indeed express,
the Lord is my help; from Azar, assistance; and
Jah, Lord. But Abed-nego means the servant of
Nego ; Abed or Obed being the Chaldee for ser-
vant. And Nego most probably was one of the
dunghill idols of Babylon, So that from Azariah,
to remind him, as often as he heard himself called,
he might remember that Jehovah was his help ; he
is brought into remembrance whenever he now
heard his name, that he was the servant of an idol,
in whom there is no help. Lord ! keep thy peo-
ple from " mingling with the heathen, and learning
their works." (Psalm cvi. 35.)
ABEL. The second son of Adam and Eve. His
name is mentioned by the Holy Ghost with pecu-
liar honour, in that illustrious list of Old Testament
saints, who all died, as they had lived, by faith.
(Heb. xi. 4.) * By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." By which
we derive full authority to conclude, that Abel's
faith in Christ, the promised seed, gave a blessed-
ness in the acceptance of his sacrifice, which Cain's
had not. Abel came to the Lord as a sinner ; and,
by the lamb he offered in sacrifice, testified the
sense he had of sin, and his hopes of salvation by
Christ. Cain came to the Lord, not under the
apprehension of sin, but to present an offering of
tribute. He therefore slighted the promised seed,
A B 15
and redemption by Christ ; and stands in the front
of the Bible, the first deist the world ever knew.
(Gen. iv. 3 — 5.) It may be not amiss to add, that
the word Abel signifies vanity, a vapor, emptiness,
and the like.
ABEL-BETH . MAACHAH. We meet with this
name, 2 Sam. xx. 15. And as Abel means vanity,
mourning', and emptiness ; so Beth, an house : and
therefore the whole taken together implies ; vanity
or mourning to the house of Maachah.
ABEL-MAIM. The mourning of the waters.
(2 Chron. xvi. 4)
ABEL-MEHOLAH. The mourning of sickness.
(Judges vii. 13.)
ABEL-MIZRAIM. This name was given at the
floor of Atad, on the occasion of the funeral of
Jacob. The margin of the Bible renders it, " the
mourning of the Egyptians." (Gen. i. 11.)
ABEL-SHITTIM, A place in the encampments of
Israel ; meaning the mourning in Shittim, in the
plains of Moab. (Numb, xxxiii.49.)
AB1B. See Month.
ABIDE. To abide, in the language of Scripture,
means somewhat more than merely the remaining
in one place. It implies an adherence to a thing ;
or an union with, and connection with it. Thus
Jesus saith, (John xv. 4.) "Abide in ine and I
in you." So, speaking of the Holy Ghost, he saith,
" He shall abide with you for ever." (Johnxiv. 16.)
And his servants, the apostles, use similar ex-
pressions, in the same sense. The apostles, Paul
and John, describe the indwelling residence of the
Holy Ghost, and a vital union with Christ, under
this character of abiding. (See 2 Tim. ii. 13. 1 John
ii. 27, 28.) It is a blessed consideration, in the
view of this doctrine, that when Jesus saith, " Abide
in me, and I in you ;" and a little after ; 8 Continue
16
ye in my love :" (John xv. 4. 9.) it is not a mere
precept, without imparting with it ability. But it
is, willing them into an ability, by virtue of a
oneness with them, as the head of efficiency, to
the members of his body. He directs the thing to
be done, and he enables them to do it ; according
to that blessed promise : " Thy people shall be will-
ing in the day of thy power." (Psalm ex. 3.)
ABIEZER. We read of several of this name in the
Scriptures. (Joshua xvii. 2. Judges vi. 34. 2 Sam.
xxiii. 27.) The name is interesting, signifying my
Father [God] is my help : from Ab, father ; and
Hazar, to help.
ABIGAIL. A memorable name in Scripture, whom
the Lord, in his providence, made instrumental to
save David from blood-shedding. (See the history,
1 Sara. xxv. 2 to 35.) Her name is as remarkable,
for the event the Lord enabled her to accomplish ;
for it means, the joy of the Father ; from Gul, to
rejoice, and Ab, father. I have often admired the
sweet and gracious conclusion, which David made,
on occasion of the sin-preventing providence, the
Lord accomplished on the patriarch's mind, through
the instrumentality of this woman. He saw the
hand of the Lord in the appointment ; and, first,
he blessed God ; and next, he blessed her advice ;
and next, he blessed her : for all come in for a
blessing, since the Lord had wrought deliverance
by such means from sin. " Blessed (said he) be
the Lord ; and blessed be thy advice ; and blessed
be thou that hast kept me this day from shedding
blood." (1 Sam. xv. 32, 33.)
ABIHU. Son of Aaron, whose awful death, by the
immediate judgment of the Lord, with his brother
Nadab, is recorded Lev. x. 2. I refer the reader
to that history, for the particulars of this visitation.
Some have thought, that they were drunken, when
17
they thus ministered in their priestly office ; and so
forgot to take the sacred fire in their censers.
And they have formed this opinion, on the precept
in the ninth verse : where it is said to Aaron,
" Do not drink wine nor strong- drink, thou, nor thy
sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of
the cong regation ; lest ye die." But it should rather
seem, that it was the act of taking strange fire
which was their offence, and for which the Lord
smote them. Strange fire ; not the fire which was
appointed, and which was always durning upon the
altar: and which typified Christ's fiery sufferings.
And if so, what an awful view it affords, to shew the
danger of all offerings, void of an eye by faith in
Christ! (Isa. 1. 11.) The name of Abihu means,
he is my father.
ABU AH. We meet with many of this name in Scrip-
ture : and it is not to be wondered at j for it is a
very blessed one, compounded of Ab, Father, JAH,
Lord, and I, my. Sweet appellation, when a child of
God can say, Jehovah is my Father! For this is
what the Lord himself provided for his people. "But
I said, (said the Lord) how shall I put thee among
the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly
heritage of the hosts of nations ? And 1 said, Thou
shalt call me my Father ! and shalt not turn away
from me." (Jer. iii. 19.) For the several persons in
Scripture, called Abijah, I refer to the several chap-
ters, (1 Kings xiv. 1. 1 Chron. xxiv. 10. 2 Chron.
xxix. 1. Nehem. x. 7.)
ABIMELECH. There are several of this name in
the word of God : and it must be confessed, that
it is a goodly name; compounded of Melech, king,
and Abi, my father ; meaning, the king is my fa-
ther. There were two kings of Gerar of this name,
father and son, in the days of Abraham and Isaac.
(Gen. xx. 2. ; xxvi, 1.) There was also an Abi-
vol. vi. c
1,8
A B
melech the son of Gideon. (Judges ix.l). And also
an Abimelech among the priests of the Lord, in the
days of David. (1 Sam. xxi. 1.)
ABINADAB. There were several of this name in
the Old Testament. Saul had a son of this name;
and David a brother. (1 Chron. ii. 13.) And there
was an Abinadab a Levite. The signification of the
name is, my father is a prince.
ABNER. Captain of Saul's army. (1 Sam. xvii. 55.)
The name means, father of light ; from Ner, a lamp,
and Ab, father.
ABOMINATION. In the language of Scripture, the
word abomination for the most part means ido-
latry. Thus we read, (2 Kings xxiii. 13,) that
Ashtoreth was the abomination (that is the idol) of
the Zidonians ; Chemosh, the abomination of the
Moabites ; and Milcom, the abomination of the
Ammonites. Hence our Lord forewarned his dis-
ciples, that when they saw the abomination of de-
solation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the
holy place, namely, the temple, they should accept
this, as a token, that Jerusalem would be destroy-
ed, and should accordingly then take their flight.
And this was done, when Titus Vespasian's army
put up the image of idolatry in the temple. Com-
pare (Dan. ix. 27. with Matt. xxiv. 15. and Mark
xiii. 14.)
ABRAM, and ABRAHAM. The great father of the
faithful, whose history is so dear to the church in
all ages, and whose faith so illustrious, as to have
procured for him this most honourable title. The
memoirs of this friend of God, as he is called,
(2 Chron. xx. 7. and James ii. 23.) begin at Gen. ix.
26, and run through the whole of Scripture, like
a golden thread, from end to end. The distinguish-
ing honour put upon this man, in depositing the co-
venant in his seed ; and the change of name there-
19
upon both in him and his wife, are most striking
events, and on every account meriting- the most parti-
cular attention. Concerning the cause of the former,
we can form no certain conclusions upon it. There
are indeed no grounds to form any data upon.
All must be referred unto the eternal purposes of
Jehovah, "who worketh all things after the coun-
sel of his own will and pleasure." Concerning the
latter, we can trace somewhat very sweet and
interesting, of the Lord's approbation of his ser-
vants, both in the man and his wife, by the change
of name. I shall beg to offer a short observation
upon it.
The original name of Abram was truly honour-
able, meaning, in the compound of the word Ab,
father, and Ram, exalted ; a father of eminency
or exaltation. But when the Lord added the Ha
to it, and made it Abraham, this became still more
honourable ; for his name now, in the literal sense
of it, was, a father of many nations. And all this
became greatly increased in point of honour, on
account of the covenant entailed on Abraham's
seed, even Christ, (See Gal. iii. 16.) from whom,
and in whom, all the nations of the earth were to
be blessed.
But there is yet another purpose which the Lord
accomplished in the display of the riches of his
grace, by this change of name : and which, if I mis-
take not, (the Lord pardon me if I err) seems to
have been the Lord's great design, in this act of
mercy and favour shewn both to the patriarch and
his wife ; namely, by this alteration, or rather addi-
tion given to each 5 by one of the letters which
form the incommunicable name of Jehovah. By
this express act of divine grace, Abraham and
Sarah, both possessed in their name an everlasting
symbol, or token of Jehovah's glorious favour,
c 2
A B
And I am the more inclined to this belief, because,
in the instance of Jeconiah. in an after age of the
church, the Lord manifested his displeasure to this
man, by taking from his name one of those distin-
guishing letters of Jehovah, and calling him Co-
niah, a " despised broken idol." (Compare Jer.
xxiii. 24—30, with 1 Chron. iii. 16.) I beg the
reader to observe, that I do not presume to speak
decidedly on a point of so high a nature ; I only
propose the thought, and that with the most pro-
found reverence.
May I not venture to suggest, that perhaps it
was on this account, of the honour done to their
father Abraham's name, by taking into it a part of
Jehovah's, that the children of Abraham, in every
age of the church, have been so anxious to call
their descendants by names, which either took in
some of the letters of Jehovah's name, or had an
allusion to the Lord. This is so visible a feature, in
almost all the Jewish names of the Old Testament,
that we meet with very few among the pious
Israelites where this respect is not had, in the choice
of their children's names, through the whole Bible.
I cannot dismiss these observations on Abra-
ham's name, until that I have requested the rea-
der to connect with the review, the sweet consi-
deration, that all true believers in Jesus take part
in the same. They have a new name given them,
as well as Abraham their father, when, like him,
they are by regeneration made " new creatures in
Christ Jesus." They are interested in all the rich
promises of God in Christ ; and being Christ's chil-
dren, by adoption and by grace : then are they
" Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the pro-
mise." I pray the reader to turn to the following
Scriptures by way of confirmation. Rev. ii. 17.
2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. iii. 7—29. Rom. iv. 16.
21
I know not how to turn away from this subject,
concerning our great father Abraham, who in any,
and in every view, opens a constant source for im-
provement, without offering- a short observation
more, in respect to that circumstance in his life,
when compelled by famine to go down into Egypt,
he begged Sarah to call herself his sister, and not
his wife. We have the account of it in its own
beautiful simplicity related to us, Gen. xii. 9. to
the end. 1 beg the reader to turn to the Scripture
and peruse it over. And when he hath so done, I
request him to attend to a short observation which
I would offer upon Abraham's conduct, in this par-
ticular.
It certainly doth, in the first view of things, appear
strange, that the great father of the faithful should
have had upon this occasion his faith so slender,
that he became alarmed for the safety of his wife's
chastity, when he had before this, at the call of God,
come out from his father's house, " not knowing
whither he went." (Heb. xi. 8.) He had strength
of faith to trust God for every thing respecting
himself; yea afterwards, even to the offering up
his only son : and yet he could not, when driven by
famine into Egypt, trust to God's watchful care
over Sarah. But we shall discover, that in this
instance of danger respecting his beloved Sarah,
humanly speaking, there was no possibility of her
escaping with her chastity, unless the Lord accom-
plished her deliverance by a miracle. Sarah was
exceedingly fair,we are told, and her beauty would
soon be known (as we find it was) to the prince of
the country, on their arrival at Egypt. Instantly
she would be seized upon for Pharaoh's haram.
And this was literally the case. In vain would be
Abraham's remonstrances, or the humblest petitions.
If lie had said, She is my wife, his death would have
A B
immediately followed. But if he said, She is my
sister, his life would be spared. And in this case,
even then nothing short of the Lord's interposition
could restore to him his beloved Sarah again. This
therefore he hoped. And here Abraham's faith
became as illustrious as before. The patriarch had
grounds to hope it. Necessity, and not choice,
had driven him down into Egypt, that he might not
perish by the famine. And being in the path of
duty, and no doubt, constantly in the path of faith
and prayer ; the whole terminated at length to the
divine glory, and to his faithful servant's happiness.
And when Sarah was taken, and separated from
him : when no possibility of communication between
Sarah and her husband was found : locked up in
the haram of Pharaoh, from whence there could
be no escape, (according to the custom of those
Eastern courts, during the life of the prince, the
women of the haram being confined there never to
get out,) here was a season for the exercise of
faith, and for the display of the Lord's favour to his
servants. And the way the Lord wrought on the
occasion, is as remarkable, in proof of his interposi-
tion, as the patriarch's faith in exercise. u The
Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great
plagues, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." (Gen.
xii. 17.) And so the Lord overruled the visitation,
as to give a voice to the rod, and cause the prince
very gladly to give up Sarah, unviolated, to her
husband. So that when the whole subject is pro-
perly considered and taken into one complete
view, so far was the faith of the patriarch from being
lessened by the exercise, as in the first blush of
the history it seemed to appear, that by the means
Abraham adopted, he still threw himself with con-
fidence on the Lord, to save his beloved Sarah from
ruin, and his life from >danger ; and without this
23
trust in the Lord, and depeudance on the Lord's
interposition, Abraham could not but well know,
that whether he had called Sarah, sister, or wife,
the peril was the same.
If it be said, (as it has been said) but wherefore
did the great father of the faithful make use of a
falsehood in this instance ? might he not have told
the truth, and with more confidence still looked up
to God for the issue? To which I answer. Cer-
tainly, truth at all times, and upon all occasions, is
most closely and faithfully to be followed up, leav-
ing it with the Lord to make all things minister to
his own glory, and to his people's welfare. But it
should be observed, that though upon this occasion,
the patriarch did not tell the whole truth, he told
no falsehood. Sarah was his sister, as well as his
wife. If the reader will turn to the twentieth chap-
ter of Genesis, and peruse a similar situation,
into which Abraham and Sarah were afterwards
broughtatGerar,hewill there behold the patriarch's
modest apology for calling his beloved Sarah his
sister, rather than his wife. When Abimelech, the
king of Gerar, remonstrated with Abraham for cal-
ling Sarah sister, and not wife, and said, "What
sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing ?" Abra-
ham answered, " Because 1 thought, Surely the fear
of God is not in this place ; and they will slay me for
my wife's sake. And yet indeed she is my sister ;
she is the daughter of my father, but not the
daughter of my mother: and she became my wife."
(Gen. xx. 10—12.)
But what I am more particularly earnest to im-
press upon the reader's mind, respecting this his-
tory of Abraham, (and indeed the sole purpose for
which I have introduced the subject in this place)
is, that the act itself was founded in faith and
reliance upon the Lord. The patriarch had not
24
recourse to mere human policy, without first
throwing himself on divine aid. Abraham was
well aware of his critical situation He knew the
danger to which both himself and Sarah would
be exposed. He therefore used what he thought
the best human means : but he certainly was all
the while relying by ardent faith on the Lord.
And let it be remembered, that in those journies
the patriarch was prosecuting, they were by the
Lord's command, and not Abraham's pleasure.
So that the same faith which first prompted him,
at the call of God, to leave his own country, and
his father's house, and, as the Holy Ghost testifies
of him, " by faith he went out, not knowing whither
he went (Heb. xi. 8.) the same perfect reliance
upon the Lord went with him all the way. How
beautifully the patriarch accounts for this, as well
as his whole conduct in calling Sarah his sister,
and she calling him brother, in the close of his
apology to Abimelech ! "It came to pass, when
God caused me to wander from my father's house,
that I said unto her, This is the kindness/which thou
shalt shew unto me ; At every place whither we shall
come, say of me, He is my brother.', (Gen. xx. 13.)
What a sweet and interesting tale the whole
forms! I beg the reader's pardon, for the length
1 have made of it ; and shall now leave it to his
own judgment, under the hope of divine teaching
concerning it, from the Lord.
ABSALOM. Son of David. His history we have
2 Sam. 14th to the 18th chapter. His name was
but ill suited to his character ; for he was of a
rebellious, turbulent spirit. Ab, the father, Sha-
lom, of peace.
ABSTAIN, and ABSTINENCE. The Scripture
sense of both these words hath a very extensive
meaning, beyond the mere abstinence of the body.
26
Fasting from food is easily done,, and it is to be
feared is often done by many, who give unrestrain-
ed indulgence to the lusts of the flesh and the
mind. The Holy Ghost, by his servants the apos-
tles, hath given them very blessed directions of
" abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against the
soul : and from the very appearance of evil."
(1 Pet. ii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 22.)
ACCEPT or ACCEPTATION. There is nothing
more opposed to each other, than the Scripture
sense of acceptation, as it relates to the Lord, and
as it relates to man. To accept any man's person,
is the sinful act of a sinful man. And to accept a
poor sinner in Christ, is the gracious act of a
gracious God. And those different views of accep-
tation very fully explain the meaning of the apos-
tle, in his sermon before Cornelius and his house-
hold. K Of a truth I perceive, (said Peter) that
God is no respecter of persons." God hath no re-
spect to the person of any, but as they are in
Christ. It is to Jesus, that the Lord hath respect.
And, therefore, " in every nation, he that feareth
him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with
Jesus." (Acts x. 34, 35.)
ACCESS. This, in Scripture language, means, the
drawing nigh to a throne of grace, and having
a nearness, and audience with God in Christ. The
apostle Paul hath a short but comprehensive
verse, (Ephes. ii. 18.) which explains this most
fully ; and at the same time shews, how each glo-
rious person of the Godhead takes part, in the
distinct office of each, on those sweet and blessed
occasions. " For through him (that is the Lord
Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father." It is through the mediation of the Lord
Jesus believers draw nigh, and have access unto
the Father; and this, by the gracious leadings
26
and influences of the Holy Ghost. And I beg
the reader to note yet farther, the blessedness of
this access to the throne. It is not simply as
introduced by Christ, but beheld, and accepted
also in Christ. He is our peace, our cause, both of
access and acceptance: for it is "to the praise
of the glory of Jehovah's grace, wherein he
hath made us accepted in the Beloved." (See Rom.
v. 2. Ephes. i. 6. ; ii. 18. ; iii. 12. 1 Pet. iii. 18.)
This seems to be the scriptural sense of access.
ACCUSED. In Scripture language, this means, be-
ing separated from, and under the curse of God.
(Joshua vi. 17. Rom. ix. 13. 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Gal.
i. 8, 9.) What a sweet relief to a poor burdened
soul, when led to see that curse done away in Christ !
(Gal. iii. 13,)
ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN. One of
the names of Satan. (Rev. xii. 9.) See Devil.
Satan.
ACELDAMA. The field of blood. It was very
properly called so, because it was purchased
with the thirty pieces of silver, which the traitor
Judas received of the chief priests for Christ's
blood. (Matt, xxvii. 8. Acts i. 19.) It lay to
the south of mount Zion, not far from the pool of
Siloam. The name given it of Aceldama, is ra-
ther Syriac than Hebrew ; and compounded of
Achel, (from Chakel) field, and Daraah, blood.
This memorable ground is said to be shewn to
travellers, even to the present day. Wherefore
it was called the potter's field, is not so easy to
say : unless, like our church-yards, some neigh-
bouring potter dried his earthen pans there, as
people now dry their clothes, after washing, in our
church-yards. An old monk, called Drutmar, re-
lates, that in his days, there was an hospital built
in this charnel house for strangers, where the pit-
A C
27
grims, going to, and from, the Holy Land, used to
lodge.
It is blessed to observe, how the Lord in his pro-
vidence overruled events, at the crucifixion of
Jesus, that his holy body should not have been
thrown into this, or any other Aceldama, as a com-
mon malefactor. The Mishna reports, that it
was not allowed, for any among the Jews who died
by the common hands of justice, to be buried in
the sepulchre of their fathers, except their flesh
was first consumed. Now as the Lord Jesus, being
considered by the law as a criminal, (John xvii.
30.) was thus liable to have been cast out with the
common dead ; what an overruling power must it
have been, to prompt the minds of the honourable
counsellor, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus
a ruler of the Jews, to have begged the forfeited
body from Pilate !
And there was another providence, directing all
this to the accomplishment of the purpose intend-
ed; in that the request was so well timed before
the chief priests could influence Pilate's mind to
refuse ; and Pilate's mind so guided by the Lord,
to grant the request before that he had power to
deliberate. Had the Sanhedrim foreseen such a
thing, no doubt they would have been beforehand
with Joseph and Nicodemus, and prevailed upon
the governor to deny. But He that had predict-
ed Jesus should make " his grave with the wick-
ed, and with the rich in his death," (Isa. liii. 9.)
took care not only that a new sepulchre, suited to
the infinite dignity of his person, should be pre-
pared ; but all the steps leading to the accomplish-
ment of placing his holy body there, should make
way, so as to answer all the important purposes of
that prophecv.
As the holy body of Jesus was not to see cor-
28
AC
ruption, but to arise the third day from the dead ;
this new sepulchre, wherein never man had laid,
not only corresponded to the dignity of his person,
but served to identify that person, as an article of
faith to the believer ; that it was Jesus, the very Lord
of life and glory, whom the disciples placed there,
that arose the third day, as he had promised, from
the dead. Thus confirming the faith by circum-
stances, which, considering the difficulties with
which the thing itself was surrounded, and the little
probability that one dying, as the Lord Jesus did,
under the hands of the Roman government, as a
common felon, should make " his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich, in his death : " nothing
but the over-ruling and determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of Jehovah could have contrived ;
nor any less than the same sovereign power could
have accomplished. Here, as in a thousand in-
stances beside, we may well cry out, " O the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom, and knowledge
of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and
his ways past finding out ! " (Rom. xi. 33.)
ACHOR. A valley in Jericho : rendered memorable
from the stoning of Achan, the son of Carmi, there.
Indeed the valley seems to have borrowed its
name from this man. See the history (Joshua vii.
17 — 26.) The margin of the Bible at the last verse
so explains. Achor means trouble. It is some-
what remarkable, that one so injurious to Israel
should have been called Achan, as if from his birth
ordained to this condemnation. (Jude iv.)
I know not whether I should have noticed this
valley, or the history of Achan, to whom it refers,
had it not been from the gracious use the Lord
makes of it, in a way of figure, by allusion, in pro-
mising happier times to Israel. (Hosea ii. 15.) In
this sweet chapter, the Lord is following up his
29
rich promises of grace, in return for Israel's re-
peated ingratitude and rebellion. But. grace shall
triumph. For, saith the Lord, from trouble like
that of Achan, I will raise up comfort to my peo-
ple : when from the sorrows induced by sin, under
the quickening convictions for sin, and the exer-
cises wrought in the soul, by the power of the Holy
Ghost, I will bring my people into the blessed con-
solations of deliverance by Christ. u And I will
give her her wine-yards from thence ; and the
valley of Achor for a door of hope : and she shall
sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the
day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."
(Isaiah lxv. 10.)
ADAM. The first man. The name implies the earth,
from whence he was formed, which signifies
red. It is worthy remark, that Christ is also called
Adam. (1 Cor. xv. 45.) And if we compare what
the apostle saith of Christ, (Col. i. 15.) with what is
said of Adam, at the creation ,of the world, (Gen.
i. 26.) it serves to explain, in what sense we are to
limit the expression concerning him, who was form-
ed from the earth as the first man. In that Scrip-
ture of the apostle, when speaking of Christ, he
is called, " the image of the invisible God, the first
born of every creature.''1 Hence we infer, that though
the first Adam was indeed the first man, as manifested
openly; yet the second Adam, so called, even the
Lord from heaven, had a pre-existence in secret, and
stood up the Great Head of his body the church, in
the counsels of the divine mind, the Wisdom man,
from all eternity. Indeed from this Wisdom man, this
pattern, the first earthly man was formed. For so
the charter of grace, at the creation, expressed it:
" Let us make man in our image, after our like-
ness." (Gen. i. 26.) And if Christ was, and is, as
the apostle was commissioned to tell the church,
30
A D
u the image of the invisible God, the first born of
every creature," nothing can be plainer than that
the first Adam, so called, because indeed he was
the first man openly, was created in the image or
likeness of Him, who alone can be said to be the
image of the invisible God, and in his human na-
ture, " the first born of every creature." (See Psalm
lxxxix. 19. Prov. viii. 22—31. Micah v. 2.)
ADAR. The twelfth month among the Hebrews.
See Month.
ADDER. One of the names figuratively given to
the Devil. Hence, when the Lord Jesus Christ is
said to bruise Satan, it is described under the simi-
litude of " treading on the lion and the adder."
(Psalm xci. 13.) Hence also, as sin is of the devil,
the infusion of it into our nature, at the fall, is call-
ed in Scripture, adder's poison. (Psalm cxl. 3.
See also Gen. xlix. 17. Prov. xxiii. 32.)
ADJURE. This word in Scripture language is much
more striking and significant than is generally con-
sidered. It contains not only the nature of a com-
mand when used by a person in authority, that the
adjured party shall answer to the question propo-
sed, but it goes farther ; to bind the person adjured
under a fearful curse if aught be concealed, or
kept back in his mind, whereby a discovery which
is needed be hindered and prevented. Thus
Joshua concerning Jericho, (Jos. vi. 26. AhabtoMi-
caiah, 1 Kings xxii. 16.) And still higher than both,
when Christ was adjured by the high priest.
(Matt. xxvi. 63.)
The law of adjuration appears to be founded in
the divine authority. Thus we read, (Lev. v. 1.)
" If a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and
is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it,
if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity."
It should seem from hence, that the concealment of
A D
31
any iniquity, made the party concealing a joint par-
taker of it, in the sight of God. To the same pur-
port, is that passage in the Proverbs, (chap. xxix.
24.) u Whoso is partner with a thief, hateth his own
soul : he hearing cursing, and bewrayeth it not."
Those views of concealment, according to the law
of Moses, serve to explain to us the nature of ad-
juration, and throw a light upon the conduct of our
Lord, in that unequalled moment of his meek and
humble demeanour, when he stood before the high
priest. " 1 adjure thee (said the high priest) by
the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the
Christ the son of God." And while the reader
thus observes the law of adjuration, so faithfully
fulfilled by Christ, I hope he will never lose sight
of the Lord Jesus Christ's answer : " Thou sayest
that I am." Oh ! precious testimony of Jesus, and
from Jesus himself. Here was indeed a good con-
fession. (1 Tim. vi. 13.)
ADMIRE.— ADMIRATION. In Scripture lan-
guage, somewhat more is meant by those words than
we annex to them, in our ordinary discourse. It is
said, concerning the centurion's faith, (Matt. viii.
10.) that Jesus marvelled at it. But if this be sup-
posed to imply any surprise wrought on the mind
of Christ, this would be a mistake, and a perversion
of language. We may apply the words of the
Lord upon another occasion, and say, " Because it
is marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of the peo-
ple, should it be also marvellous in mine eyes, saith
the Lord of hosts ?" (Zech. viii. 6.) The Hebrew
word, in this instance, is the same as that given of
Christ by the prophet, (Isaiah ix. 6.) when he calls
him Wonderful. Hence in like manner, the Lord is
said to shew his mai'vellous loving kindness. (Psalm
xvii. 7.) So that it is marvellous, and it is to the
admiration of his people and of all that look on,
32
A D
when the Lord by his grace distinguisheth them
from others. They are men wondered at, (Zech.
iii. 8.) In this sense, the Lord Jesus admired and
praised, it may be said, by the notice he took of it,
the faith of the centurion, and the faith of the wo-
man of Canaan. (Matt. xv. 28.)
ADONAI. This is one of the names peculiarly
applied to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
By way of distinguishing it from Jehovah, it is ren-
dered Lord in our English Bibles, in smaller letters,
while Jehovah, which is also translated Lord, is in
capitals. The reader will find a striking proof of
it, (Psalm ex. 1.) The Lord said unto my Lord.
The words in the original are, Jehovah said unto
my Adonai. It is a sweet and interesting name of
the Lord Jesus. It carries with it the idea of a stay,
or helper, security, confidence.
ADONI-BEZEK. The lord of Bezek. (Judges
i. 4, 5.)
ADONI-JAK. The fourth son of David. His name
forms a wonderful compound of two glorious names
of the Lord. So very earnest were the children of
Israel to preserve the constant remembrance of
the Lord God of their fathers in their families.
(1 Kings i. 5.)
ADONI-ZEOEK. The lord of Zedek : supposed to
have been one of the ancient names of Jerusalem ;
and which is said to have had four : Salem, Jebus,
Zedek, (or Justice) and Jerusalem. (See Joshua x. 1.)
ADOPTION. This forms a most interesting- word
in Scripture, in the use that is made of it, in allusion
to the state of adoption and grace, into which true
believers are received by their union with Christ.
They are said to be predestinated to the adoption
of children. (Eph. i. 5.) And the purpose for
which Christ is said to be made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the
A D
33
law was, that they might receive the adoption of
sons. (Gal. iv. 4, 5.)
The word adoption is borrowed from a custom
well known among the Romans, under whose go-
vernment Judea became a province, who adopted
the children of strangers and acknowledged them
for their own, when they themselves were child-
less. But though the term is applied to believers,
from being openly adopted and acknowledged in
the family of Christ, yet strictly and properly
speaking, this is not done, because they were not
of the family of Christ before ; for in fact they al-
ways were ; but it is done in a way of publickly
confessing and acknowledging it. The Holy Ghost
by the apostle is express to this purpose, when he
saith, " And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, where-
by ye cry Abba ! Father !" (Gal. iv. 6.) And all
the Scriptures are express to confirm this most
unquestionable truth. (Isa. xliv. 3; lix. 21.
Ezek. xxxvii. 5 — 14. Zech. xiv.) It is most
blessed, when we consider the privileges of adop-
tion, and know in ourselves that we are made,
though grace, the happy partakers of it. By
adoption, the children of God in Christ are brought
out of the spirit of bondage into the glorious li-
berty of the sons of God. They are translated
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's dear Son. Hence they are regenerated,
illuminated, justified, sanctified, and made par-
takers of grace here, to be made partakers of
glory hereafter. Sweetly the Spirit witnesseth to
their spirits, that they are the children of God.
K And if children, saith the apostle, then
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ : if
so be that we suffer with him, that we may be
also glorified together." (Rom. viii. 16, 17.)
vol. vi. o
34
A D
ADORE, ADORATION. By the act of adoration
is implied the full and most absolute acknowledg-
ment of worship ; and of consequence, such can
only be suitable or proper to offer exclusively to
Almighty God. Jehovah, in his threefold charac-
ter of person, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, can be
the only object of adoration ; and this, through
the glorious mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. " I
am the way, and the truth, and the life ; (saith
Jesus) no man cometh unto the Father but by
me." (John xiv. 6.) This, in the strictest sense of
the word, is adoration. But in the Eastern world,
the customs and methods observed in acts of re-
verence among men, from the humbler to the higher
ranks, too nearly approach that homage, which is
due only to the Lord. The prostration of the
whole body, kissing the earth, and the like, savour
much of idolatry. See Kiss.
ADVERSARY. This is a general name applied to
all persons, in common, who have a controversy,
or are at variance with each other. Thus the Lord
saith to Israel, " I will be an adversary to thine
adversaries." (Exod. xxiii. 22.) And the pro-
phet describes the Lord as an adversary to his peo-
ple, in the day of his displeasure. "He hath bent
his bow (saith he) as an enemy ; he stood with his
right hand as an adversary." (Lam. ii.4.) And
the Lord Jesus describes God the Father, as a
law adversary, when he saith, (Matt. v. 25.)
u Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou
art in the way with him." The Scriptures repre-
sent also Satan, as an adversary to Christ and his
church. Thus Jesus, by the spirit of prophecy,
saith, " Who is mine adversary ? let him come near
to me." (Isa. 1. 8.) And Zechariah (chap. iii. 1.)
represents Satan as "an adversary standing at
Joshua's right hand, to resist him." And the apostle
35
Peter calls the devil an adversary going about
to devour ; and cbargeth the church to resist him
stedfast in faith. (I Pet. v. 8.) From these
different views of the word, it will be very easy to
learn, that the name of adversary is indiscrimi-
nately given to all persons who are in a state of
controversy with each other, whether good or evil.
ADVOCATE — is one that pleads the cause of
another. In a very particular manner, the Scrip-
ture applies this to the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed,
it is so peculiarly and personally his, that it ex-
pressly forms one of his divine offices. Hence,
the apostle saith, * If any man sin, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righ-
teous, and he is the propitiation for our sins."
(1 John ii. 1, 2.)
It is very blessed to see the personal and pecu-
liar fitness and suitability of the Lord Jesus Christ
to this office, and in how endeared and affectionate
a manner he is thereby recommended, and comes
home with all the warmth of tenderness to our hearts.
I persuade myself that I shall have the reader's
pardon and indulgence, if I trespass for a moment,
on dwelling a little more particularly, than the
merely noticing it, on this sweet feature in the
portrait of our Lord.
That our poor nature, universally speaking,
stands in need of an advocate, is unnecessary to
insist upon, for "we have all sinned and come
short of God's glory." And therefore, he who
undertakes to plead the cause of the sinner, must
himself be sinless. And he must not only possess
sufficient abilities to the office of a special pleader,
but he must know every person, and every case,
with all the disadvantages of all the causes for
which he undertakes. Neither is it sufficient, that
he hath all these qualifications, and more than
» 2
36
these, unless that he be lawfully constituted to the
office. It is not enough, in our common courts of
justice, between man and man, that many an able
and a feeling- heart could stand up for poor guilty
criminals, and plead their cause. He that advo-
cates for them, must have a legal call to the office,
and be sworn into it, according to the laws of the
court. It is most blessed, therefore, to see that in the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ all these different
qualifications meet and centre, and shine forth in
one full constellation.
An attention to a few leading particulars, will
make this appear abundantly plain and obvious to
every beholder. The Redeemer's claim to this
office of an advocate, and the only advocate of
our poor nature, is founded on the call of Jehovah.
We are told by God the Holy Ghost, (Heb. v. 5, 6.)
that Christ K glorified not himself to be made an
High Priest, but was called of God, as was
Aaron." And he \vas not only called to the office,
but sworn into it, by the solemnity of an oath. —
" The Lord sware, and will not repent ; thou art a
priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
So then, it appears beyond all question and dispute,
that Jehovah, who said unto him, " Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee said also,
"Thou art a priest for ever :" and confirmed it by
his oath. I beg the reader to keep the remem-
brance of this everlastingly in view. Your Jesus,
your advocate with the Father, is your sworn
advocate, and by Jehovah himself. And as by*
reason of the sin of our nature, God our Father
is the law adversary of every poor sinner; (see
Matt. v. 25.) so Christ is our law advocate, and
fully and legally appointed to this office, by Jehovah
himself. Sweet thought !
But we must not stop here, in examining into the
37
right of Christ, lor the exercise of this divine
office, the advocate of his people. He is no less
so, by virtue of his being" the propitiation for our
sins ; and in a double sense in this particular,
because, not only the infinite dignity of his person,
and the infinite merit of his propitiation gives him
this claim, but also he is the very propitiation which
God "himself hath set forth, through faith in his
blood." Let the reader consult those Scriptures
for himself, which prove the certainty of these pre-
cious truths, and he will see how unanswerably
conclusive they are. (Job xxxiii. 24. Isa. xlii. 21.
Matt. xvii. 5. Rom. iii. 25.) Now, then, let me
pause, and ask, Hath not this almighty advocate a
right to plead for his own rights, and those of his
people in him ? Was it not an absolute promise, in
the charter of grace, that u when he had made his
soul an offering for sin, he should see of the travail
of his soul, and be satisfied?" (Isa. liii. 10, 11.)
And shall not the blessed Jesus stand up and plead
for the fulfilment of those promises ? Hath he,
indeed, given himself as the sinner's surety "an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smell-
ing savour ? " and can he rest satisfied, till he hath
brought all his ransomed people around him in
glory?
Moreover, there is one point more to be con-
sidered in this subject of Christ's advocacy, which
we have not yet even glanced at, though it forms
a principal object, for which the Lord Jesus carries
on his high priestly office, in the court of hea-
ven, namely, the destruction of all his enemies,
and the enemies of his dear people. When the
Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of prophecy, spake of
the purposes of his coming, it was for the over-
throw of the empire of Satan, as well as the
establishment of his own kingdom* "The day of
IS
A D
vengeance (said Jesus) is in my heart, and the year
of my redeemed is come." (Isa. lxiii. 4.) So, then,
it must follow, that unless we can suppose what is
impossible, that when Jesus returned to heaven he
ceased to take concern in the exercises and sorrows
and temptations of his redeemed upon earth, and
that the triumphs of the powers of darkness engag-
ed not the attention of the Lord to destroy : surely
he is now, as much as ever, carrying on, by his
everlasting intercession, all the grand purposes of
his victory over hell, until he come, in the fulness
of the times appointed, finally to crush the foe, and
to root out of his kingdom " all things that offend."
I must not stay to describe what the Scriptures
of God so very largely and blessedly set forth, the
numberless qualities of the Lord Jesus, in his abi-
lities, and readiness, and grace, and a thousand en-
dearing things beside, which render him so peculi-
arly suited to the office. The prophet sums up all
in one, his character, in this department of it, when
calling him the Wonderful Counsellor ; and the.
Apostle no less, when declaring that " in Him are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
(Isa. ix. 6. Coloss. ii. 3.) And if it were not for
swelling the pages of a work that I must rather
study to abridge, I might easily shew, that such are
the powerful recommendations the Lord Jesus
brings with him, to induce any, and every poor
sinner, that is conscious of the want of an advocate,
to plead his cause before God, that not a soul,
earnest for his everlasting welfare, would cease a
moment from putting all his concerns in the hand of
such a wise, tender, and successful High Priest as
Jesus. Indeed, indeed, it is most blessed to behold
the Lord Jesus in this endeared character. All he
undertakes is altogether free, u without money and
without pricfc." No case of his people, however
A D
39
desperate, he refuseth ; and none that he undertakes
can fail. Other advocates may, and indeed must,
ultimately bring forth disappointment, but no cause
put into the hands of Jesus can. And the gracious
manner in which the Lord carries it on, is most
blessed ; for he makes every case which he takes
up his own. He enters into all their concerns,
gives them to see how much he sympathizes with
them, during their exercises, and supports their
souls with an abiding assurance, that he is everlast-
ingly attentive to them. Not all the hallelujahs of
heaven can make him for a moment intermit his
overlooking either the persons, or the causes, of all
his redeemed upon earth. For it is not their de-
servings, but his love ; not what they have done, or
can do for themselves, but what he can do for them,
that becomes the standard of his grace. What
they are, and what they merit, comes not into the
amount That they are his, and that he hath pur-
chased their redemption, and received them as the
gift of his Father ; these are the motives which ope-
rate in the heart of Christ. He saith himself, in his
pleadings for them before the throne, (for the words
are already given to us) u Father, I will that they
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ;
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given
me." (John xvii. 24.)
Ye sinners in Zion ! here bring all your causes.
Come to Jesus and put every concern in his al-
mighty hand. Jesus waits to be gracious. He can,
and will save to the uttermost, all that come to God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. (Heb. vii. 25.) Hail ! thou glorious, gra-
cious, lawful, and successful Advocate of my poor
soul !
ADULTERY. The law of Moses made this crime
capital, both to the man and wojnan ; and upon
40
clear proof, they were both to be put to death. (Lev.
xx. 10.) It is somewhat remarkable, however, that
in the case of the adulteress brought to Christ, we
hear nothing of the man. Was it the case then,
as it is but too generally now, that both the sin and
the shame are thrown, with fulness of every thing
blameable, upon women, while the seducers and
more worthless, pass off unrebuked ? yea, to the
disgrace of human nature, not unfrequently ap-
plauded ! Not so in thine eye, blessed Lord Jesus !
(See John viii. 1. 11.) It should be remarked
under this article, that beside this natural adultery,
noticed in the Scripture, there is a spiritual fornica-
tion of which the Lord complains, which is idolatry.
(SeeJer. iii. 9.Ezek. xxiii. 37. Hosea ii. 2.) Reader!
if Jesus be the husband, that is, as the prophet calls
him, the J<ohi of his people, who would forsake him
for the idols of a dying world ? (Hosea ii. 16. 17.)
AGES OF THE WORLD. There have been ge-
nerally reckoned six ages from the creation of the
world to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
YEARS
The first, from the creation to the flood,
containing a period of 1656
The second, from Noah to Abraham . . 425
The third, from Abraham to the going
forth of Israel from Egypt .... 430
The fourth, from the departure from
Egypt to Solomon's temple .... 479
The fifth, from Solomon's temple to the
captivity in Babylon 424
The sixth, from the going into Babylon
to the coming of Christ 584
ALLEGORY. We meet with this word but once in
the Bible, namely, (Gal. iv. 24.) where the apostle,
speaking of the history of Sarah and Hagar, calls
41
it an allegory ; that is, a figure, or parable. The
Old Testament writers were very partial to this
way of teaching, in conveying divine truths through
the medium of human illustrations ; and sometimes
by other objects from the world of nature and art.
Our almighty Saviour was pleased to adopt a simi-
lar manner ; and so much so at one time, that we
are told, " without a parable spake he not unto the
people." (Matt. xiii. 34.) This allegory of Sarah
and Hagar, is not only uncommonly beautiful, but
most highly interesting. We never can be suffici-
ently thankful to God the Holy Ghost, for bringing
the church acquainted with the blessed truths which
were folded up in this patriarchal history. Never
would it have entered into the breast of any man
alive, untaught of the church's almighty Teacher,
that such glorious things were intended by the Lord
to be shadowed forth in the children of the bond
woman and the children of the free. Let the reader
learn from it this most blessed truth, that the Lord
hath been preaching all along, and from the first
dawn of revelation, the covenant of redemption by
his dear Son. Think reader, if it be possible, how
Jehovah's mind hath been occupied from all eter-
nity, in bringing in, and revealing the Lord Jesus
to his church and people. Well might it be said,
as it is said, when Jesus, who had been secretly set
up from everlasting the glorious Head of his body
the church, was openly to be brought into the world,
" Let all the angels of God worship him !" (Heb. i. 6.)
It will be a blessed view of this sweet allegory,
now so graciously explained to us as it is, by the
Holy Ghost himself, if both he that writes and he
that reads, when summing up the wonderful account,
can say with the apostle, " We are not children of
the bond-woman, but of the free." (Gal. iv. 31.)
ALLELUJAH or HALLELUJAH. This word which
42
A L
is become so general in use, ill our churches and
places of worship, is preserved to us in many parts
of Scripture, as it is in the original Hebrew, com-
pounded of Hallelu, Praise ye, and Jah, Lord. The
beloved apostle John tells us, that in those visions
he was favoured with, in seeing heaven opened, and
beholding the glorified inhabitants of the ISew Je-
rusalem, he heard a great voice of much people in
heaven, saying, Hallelujah. (Rev. xix. 1. — 3.) And
it is worthy remark, that the five last Psalms begin
and end with this expressive word, Hallelujah ; as
if to teach the church, that the first and great end
of man is the praise of God. And it is, and ought
to be, a subject of sweet consolation and joy to
every true believer in Jesus, to know that this will
be, ere long, the everlasting employment of the
Church in heaven. There the spirits of just men
made perfect now are ; many of whom we once
knew upon earth, and with whom we shall know
and be known, for ever in heaven. So that in the
prospect of this never-ending eternity, we may now,
by faith, mingle our Hallelujahs with theirs, until
by sight we all surround together " the throne of
God and the Lamb."
ALMIGHTY. I pause over the contemplation of this
distinguishing name of Jehovah ; desiring that the
glories of it, and the fulness of it, may have their
suitable impression upon my heart. This is the glo-
rious name by which Jehovah in Christ chose to
make himself known to Abram. (See Gen. xvii. 1.
with Exod.vi.3.) I am El Shaddai, God all-sufficient.
Some suppose it is derived from a word signifying
many paps, or breasts, to suck from. (Isa. lxvi.
11.) The word Shaddai may be explained, both to
bless his people, and to destroy their enemies.
And certainly, both form a blessed security to the
Lord's people. For when the Lord saith, I am God
A L
43
(all-sufficient) Almighty, it comprehends all in
himself for them, and all to them. And oh ! how
blessedly are these explained, confirmed, and
secured in Christ.
ALPHA . We meet with this word, Rev. i. 8. 1 1 . and
in two other chapters of the Revelations. It is the
first letter in the Greek alphabet. And the Lord
Jesus, in having graciously condescended to call
himself by this name, hath made it very precious to
the believer. Jesus is, indeed, the Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last, the Author and Finisher of sal-
vation. It should seem that the Lord intended by
this name, and adding to it Omega also, to imply
the comprehensiveness of his nature, and being,
both the first and the last, to intimate his eternity.
(See Isa. xliii. 10.) See A. Aleph.
ALTAR. In the old church in the wilderness, there
were three altars erected. One, called the altar
of incense ; another, the altar of burnt offerings ;
and the third, the altar, or table of shew-bread.
These material altars were all typical of Christ.
And so jealous was the Lord concerning the altar,
on which all offerings were to be made, that the
whole of the materials of which it was formed were
to be of earth only ; or, if of stone, it was not to be
hewn stone. And wherefore were matters con-
ducted with such caution ? Surely it was to shew,
that in all offerings the Lord was to be offered
only what was his own. " If thou lift up thy tool
upon it, thou hast polluted it." (Exod. xx, 24 —
26.) For, as every altar represented Christ, it was
lessening Christ's dignity and the infinite value of
his sacrifice, to presume to mingle any thing with
this. Now then, as Christ is our New Testament
altar, let us see to it, that we bring nothing to
off er upon this altar of our own. Let Jesus be all
and in all ; both the Sacrifice and the Sacrificer,
44
A M
the High Priest, the Offering, and the Altar. We
have (saith Paul) an altar whereof they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle. (Heb. xiii.
10.) 1 cannot forbear remarking, that seeing the holy
jealousy of the Lord, as noted in these things, how
very wrong must it be, not to say profane, to call
the communion table the altar, and to talk of com-
panions to the altar, in the books so called, as if
such things could be companions to Christ. Surely
it doth manifest great ignorance in divine things !
AM. 1 AM THAT I AM. One of the distinguish-
ing names and characters of Jehovah. (See Exod.
iii. 14.) and this solemn name demands our greater
veneration and reverence, because it is the very
name by which the Lord was pleased to reveal
himself to Moses at the bush. The very expres-
sion carries with it its own explanation ; that is, as
far as creatures, such as we are, can enter into an
apprehension of the meaning. When Jehovah
saith, I AM THAT I AM, it is setting forth a right
and power of existence, exclusive of every other.
Of all others, some have been, some now are, and
some may be. But then all these that have been,
or are, or may be ; all are what they are from Him,
and by his appointment. But He that is I AM, is,
and must be always, and eternally the same. His
is a self-existence, underived, independent, subject
to no change, and impossible to be any other;
" the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."
(Heb. xiii. 8.)
And what tends yet more to endear it to the heart
of his people is, that this glorious name becomes
the security of all his promises. I AM, gives be-
ing to all that he hath said, and becomes a most
sure security for the fulfilment of all that he hath
promised. Oh ! for grace to bend with the lowest
humbleness to the dust of the earth, in token of our
nothingness before this great and almighty I AM .
A M
4fi
And no less to rest in holy faith and hope, in the
most perfect confidence, that He will perform all
his promises. And, reader! do not overlook by
whom, and in whom, this and every other revelation
is made. Always connect the I AM speaking- from
the bush to Moses, (Exod. iii. 14.) with the 1 AM
speaking in the gospel, (John viii. 58.) And oh !
that God the Holy Ghost, may give grace to disco-
ver that both are one and the same. (John x. 30.)
See Jehovah.
AMALEK. See Mount Amalek.
AMEN. One of the distinguishing names of the
Lord Jesus Christ, as Christ God-man Mediator.
For so Jesus condescended to make use of it. (Rev.
iii. 14.) And the meaning of it, in the original lan-
guage, shews the great blessedness of it, as it con-
cerns his people, in the Lord Jesus condescending
to do so. For the word, in the original Greek, from
whence it is taken, means verily, certain, sure, true,
faithful. And surely, the Lord Jesus Chris! is all
these, and infinitely more, Jehovah's Yea and
Amen, as he saith himself; the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of
God ; that is in his mediatorial character.
And it is worthy our closest remark, that our
Lord very frequently began his discourses with
this word, and repeated it — " Verily, verily, I say
unto you ;" that is, in plain terms, (and indeed, it is
the very word in the original) Amen, Amen. And
it is yet worthy of farther remark, that none but the
Lord Jesus ever did use such words, at the opening
of the discourse, by way of confirmation. As il the
use of it was particularly his, and belonged to him
only, as his name. All the gospels, indeed, end
with Amen. But then, this seems to be but as a
farther proof that they are his, and he puts, there-
fore, his name as a seal at the end of them, by way
of establishing their truth.
46
A M
And I beg- to remark yet farther, by way of shew-
ing the sweetness and peculiar claim that the Lord
Jesus hath to this name, that all the promises are
said to be, Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, (2 Cor.
20.) that is, strictly and properly speaking, they are
His ; for He himself is the One great promise of the
Bible, and all are therefore, promises in and by
Him. And the prophet Isaiah (chap. lxv. 16.)
describes the believer in the gospel church, as say-
ing, That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall
bless himself in the God of truth ; that is, the God
Amen. It were devoutly to be wished, that when-
ever this sacred name is used, in our public worship,
or private devotion, our minds were to recollect the
person of the Lord Jesus. For certain it is, when
we say Amen to the giving of thanks, (see 1 Cor.
xiv. 16.) we do, to all intents and purposes, use the
name of Christ, however inattentively it be said.
And, therefore, if this were rightly considered, we
should use it with an eye of love, and faith, and
thankfulness to him.
I shall only beg to add, to what hath been offered
on this precious name of our Lord Jesus, that as
John is the only one of the Evangelists who hath
recorded, so very particularly, our Lord's dis-
courses with those double Aniens, or Verilys, it
is plain, that he considered them very highly im-
portant. And the apostle Paul, in desiring that
no one should ignorantly say Amen in the church, at
the assemblies of the faithful, seems to have hod the
same sentiment with John, that every one naming
Christ should know Christ.
A MM I. That is, as the margin of the Bible renders
it, my people ; and Ruhamah, or perhaps, more pro-
perly Rachamah, having- obtained mercy. (See
Hosea ii. 1.) There is a great sweetness in these
words, and the translators of our Bible, having
A M
47
retained them in their original language, as they
have done, while at the same time giving the
English of them in the margin, (as the reader will
perceive if he consults his Bible) seem to show their
view of the importance of the words themselves,
and their wishes that the English reader should,
in some measure, be acquainted with them, so as to
have some apprehension of their importance.
I do not presume to decide positively upon the
subject, yet I venture to believe, that the words
themselves were meant to express somewhat of
peculiar tenderness. Let the reader observe,
that the Lord commands the prophet to call by this
name, the brethren and sisters of the church. " Say
ye to your brethren, Ammi, and to your sisters,
Ruhamah : plead with your mother, plead," And
whose brethren and sisters were those but of
the Lord Jesus? And were they not the Ammi and
Ruhamah of Christ from everlasting ? Jesus had a
people whom he was not ashamed to call brethren,
and whom in the council of peace from the womb
of the morning, the Lord Jehovah promised to
make willing, in the day of Christ's power. (Ps. ex.
3.) Hence, therefore, as they had been always the
Ammi, so had they been the Ruhamah ; having
obtained mercy, in their glorious and almighty
Brother, from everlasting. And to such among
them in the church, who in the days of the prophet,
felt and rejoiced in their relationship to Christ, and
their salvation by Christ, by the lively actings of
their faith on Him that was to come; they were
commanded to plead with their mother (the
Ammah) the church, and to call her from her back-
sliding, that all her children might enjoy the same
privileges. And the close of this same chapter,
(if the reader will compare what is there said,
with the sixth and ninth verses of the former chapter,
48
he will find) becomes a blessed confirmation of the
whole subject, for it explains wherefore it was, that
the Lord thus remonstrated with his people. I will
say to [to leave outthe words,] them which were [for
they are in Italics, and are not in the original, and
have no business there] not my people, Thou my
people, and they shall say, Thou my God ; that is,
I will put them in mind of the whole cause of my
mercy towards them ; namely, my covenant relation
with them in Christ. And it is worthy the reader's
closest consideration, in farther proof of these
grand truths, that the putting them away, in con-
sequence of their adulteries, had been done in strict
justice, and by right. Such was the law of divorces.
I beg the reader to see Deut. xxiv. I — 4. The
prophet, therefore, had been commanded, by
way of illustrating this doctrine, to take an adulterous
woman, and to call the children born of her, Lo
Ruhamah, and Lo Ammi ; that is, not having ob-
tained mercy, and not my people. And this
was following up the law concerning the right of
divorce. But though the law made no provision
for recovery, the gospel, which was preached to
Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the
law, had done this ; and the covenant which was con-
firmed before of God in Christ, the law could not
disannul. And what was this covenant and promise ?
Turn to the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Gala-
tians, chap. iii. 8. 17. and compare with Gen. xii. 3.
where the charter of grace runs in those delightful
words, In thee shall nations be blessed. Hence,
though the law of divorce, among men, allowed not
a return to each other after separation, yet, in the
Lord's marriage with his church, the gospel not
only allowed a return, but graciously appointed it.
" They say (saith the Lord in one of the sweetest chap-
ters of Jeremiah, and full of the sweetest promises,
49
(Jer. iii.) theysay, If a manput away his wife, and she
g o from him, and become another man's, shall he re-
turn unto her again ? shall not that land be greatly
polluted ? But thou hast played the harlot with many
lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord."
(Jer. iii. 1.) What a full proof is here of the whole
doctrine. Though put away by reason of her many
adulteries, and though committing fornication with
the idolatrous nations around, yet the everlasting
provision made for her recovery in Christ, her law-
ful Husband, must take place ; and she shall return
to her rightful Lord. Plead, therefore, (saith the
Lord) with her(Ammah) mother, plead ; work upon
her maternal feelings, give her to see, that though by
adulteries she is by law justly liable to be divorced
for ever, yet the right and interest of her (Ishi) hus-
band, hath never been lost. He claims her as his
own. Return again unto me, saith the Lord.
If the reader be led to consider the subject in
this point of view, the expressions of Ammi and Ruha-
mah, with all the doctrine connected with both, be-
come interesting and tender beyond all imagination.
See Abba.
AMMI-NADIB. We meet with this word in Solomon's
Song, chap. vi. 12. It is a compound word, consisting
of Ammi, my people, and Nadib, willing, or gener-
ous, princely ; some read the word, therefore, toge-
ther, my princely people. And as all believers in
Christ are made kings and priests to God and the
Father, certainly, the expression is warrantable and
just. But as the church is here speaking with grate-
ful affection of her Lord, that so sudden and unex-
pected, as well as gracious, were the workings
of his Holy Spirit upon her, it should seem that
the word rather means in this place, a royal wil-
lingness wrought in her heart, by those impressions.
It is therefore, as if she had said, Or ever I was
vol. vi. E
50
A M
aware of what my Lord, by his sweet influence, was
working upon me, I found my whole soul going
forth, in desires after him, as the swiftness of cha-
riots. Blessed frame, and always to be desired.
AMMIEL. There were several of this name in
Israel. Ammiel, the son of Genial, (Num. xiii. 12.)
Ammiel, the father of Machir, (2 Sam. ix. 4.) and
Ammiel, the son of Obededom, (1 Chron. xxvi. 5.)
And the name is, indeed, most desirable, mean-
ing, the people of my God, from A mm and 11.
AMMIHUD. Several of the Israelites were called by
this name. We find it, (Num. i. 10. Num. xxxiv. 20.
28.) It is a compound of Amm, people, and Hud,
praise, and with the i, make it the people of my
praise.
AMMISHADDAI. Ahiezer had a son of this name,
(Num. i. 12.) and a very sweet and blessed com-
pound it forms, meaning people of the Almighty, or
the Almighty is with the people.
AMOS. A prophet of the Lord. See his prophecy.
His name hath been sometimes spelt Omas, which
signifies a burthen, or somewhat weighty. In allu-
sion, perhaps, to the importance of his writings. But
it is more generally spelt Amos, from Amatz, strong
ANATHEMA MARANATHA. We meet with this
expression but once in the Scripture. (1 Cor. xvi. 22.)
The apostle seems to have borrowed it from the
Jews, whose custom was, when they could not find
■ a punishment sufficiently great accoraing to their
apprehension of the crime, to devote the offender
to the Lord's own punishment, in his own time and
way. The apostle, therefore, in allusion to this
custom, when speaking of those who love not the
Lord Jesus Christ, as if no punishment he could
think of would be equal to such horrible ingratitude
and impiety, exclaims, Let him be Anathema Mara-
natha ! The want of that love will be to him an
everlasting source of bitterness. See Maranatha.
A N 51
ANATHOTH. A beautif ul village, in the tribe of
Benjamin, about three miles from Jerusalem, re-
markable for being' the birthplace of the prophet
Jeremiah. The name, if taken, as may be supposed,
from Anath, signifies song.
ANCIENT OF DAYS. Three times, in the Pro-
phecy of Daniel, and in the same chapter, we find the
Lord distinguished by this name, and in no other
part of Scripture. (Dan. vii. 9. 13. 22.) Some have
thought that the person of God the Father is meant,
and it should seem to be so, because it is also said,
that One like the Son of man, (a well known cha-
racter of the Lord Jesus Christ) came to him.
See ver. 13. But others, considering the thrones
spoken of in this chapter as the thrones of the
house of David, and all judgment being committed
to the Son, for the Father judgeth no man, (see
John v. 22.) they have concluded, that it must
be the Lord Jesus Christ which is spoken of under
this glorious name. One thing however is cer
tain, that this distinguishing name, and every other
which marks the Godhead, may be and must be
equally applied to each, and to all. The holy
sacred Three, who bear record in heaven are One.
(1 John v. 7.)
ANGEL. An order of beings with whom we are
but little acquainted ; and yet, in whose ministry
the heirs of salvation are much concerned. (Heb.
i. 14.) In Scripture we meet with many accounts
of them. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is called the
Angel or Messenger of the covenant. And his ser-
vants are called by the same name. But then, it should
always be remembered, that these names, to both
the Lord and his people, are wholly meant as
messengers ; for it is a sweet as well as an impor-
tant truth, that Christ is no angel; " for verily he
took not on him the nature of angels." (Heb. ii. 16.)
e 2
& A N
So that as God, he is no angel ; neither as
man. I conceive, that it is highly important al-
ways to keep the remembrance of this alive in
the mind. And that his people are no angels,
they need not be told, for they are sinners ; and
they know themselves to be redeemed sinners, re-
deemed from among men. In the upper, brighter
world, it is said that they shall be as the angels :
that is, in glory and in happiness. But still men,
and not angels, united to their glorious Head as
the members of his mystical body to all eternity.
(Exod. xxiii. 20. Zech. i. 12. Malachi iii. 1.
Matt. xxii. 30. and xxv. 41. Rev. ii. 1.
ANGELS. Evil angels we read of, Psalm Ixxviii.
49. And we read of " angels which kept not their
first estate, but left their own habitation, that the
Lord hath reserved in everlasting chains, under
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.
(Jude 6.) And we read that Satan is sometimes
u transformed into an angel of light." (2. Cor. ii.
14.) But the Scriptures are altogether silent re-
specting their nature, agency, and extent. The
Holy Ghost hath been graciously pleased to give
general precepts and warnings to the church, re-
specting the malignity of those evil angels, and
to admonish the people of God to resist the devil,
and that he shall flee from them. We are taught
also, by the several names given to the chief of
those evil powers, to be always looking to the
Lord Jesus for grace to resist the " fiery darts of
this enemy," who is called, u the prince of this
world." (John xii. 31.) u the prince of the power
of the air ; the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience." (Ephes. ii. 2.) But
to numberless enquiries, which we feel highly
disposed to put forth, concerning these things,
there are no encouragements of any answers to be
A N
53
given in the word of God. It is very blessed,
however, to be enabled by the promises of God, to
take to ourselves those glorious and comprehen-
sive assurances which belong1 to the whole church
of Christ, and which ensure the present safety of
every individual member, and the ultimate triumph
in Christ, over Satan and all his angels. One
Scripture tells the church, that " no temptation hath
them taken, but such as is common to man : and that
God is faithful, who will not suffer them to be
tempted above that they are able ; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that they
may be able to bear it." (1. Cor. x. 13.) And ano-
ther Scripture saith, that " the God of peace shall
bruise Satan under their feet shortly." (Rom. xvi.
20.) Here then, is enough for every child of God
to know and to rest in, until the whole comes to
be explained in eternity. See Satan.
ANNUNCIATION. See Mary.
ANOINT. In the language of Scripture, this is a
most important word. It means the consecrating,
setting apart, and sanctifying, in a peculiar man-
ner, persons or things to sacred purposes. Hence,
in a very eminent and personal degree, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as the Christ of God, is emphati-
cally called the Messiah, or anointed of Jehovah.
His name, Messiah, means this. It is, indeed, the
same word in Hebrew, as Anointed in English.
And what I particularly beg the reader to remark,
under this article, as a proof of this dedication of
Christ, as Christ, to this office character, from
everlasting, is, that he is all along in the Old Tes-
tament Scripture spoken of as such, the Messiah
or Anointed, and shewn to be so in the New. A
plain proof of his consecration by the Holy Ghost
before his incarnation. I beg the reader not to pass
on until that he halh turned to the following Scrip-
54 A P
hires, and read them all attentively. (Psal. lxxxix. 19,
20. 1 Sam. ii. 35. Psal. ex. 4.) Hence, Aaron as a
type of Christ, (Exod. viii. 12 ; xxviii. 41. Psal. ii.
2; xlv. 7 ; exxxii. 17.) Hence, the whole church is
represented as calling upon God for acceptance
and favour in Christ : " Behold, O God, our shield,
and look upon the face of thine anointed !" (Psal.
lxxxiv. 9.)
And as Christ is thus the Christ of God, so the
church, by virtue of her union and oneness with
him, is anointed with him, and that from the begin-
ning. " Touch not mine anointed." (Ps. cv. 15 ;
xxiii. 5. 1 John ii. 20. 27. 2 Cor. i. 21.) Reader !
it is truly blessed to trace through both Testaments
the testimonies of these things. What can be,
indeed, more satisfactory to the soul than thus to
discover, first, Christ, as the source and fountain
and security of all our hopes ; and then, secondly,
to behold the church interested and made a rich
partaker of the same in Him. (Acts iv. 27. Ps.
exxxiii. 3. Acts x. 38.)
APOSTLE. This is a word well known in the New
Testament. It is peculiarly applied to the twelve
men, whom the Lord Jesus called and commission-
ed to be his more immediate disciples and followers,
to preach the gospel. But Christ himself conde-
scended to be called by the same name. (Heb. iii. 1.)
Indeed, he was the apostle of Jehovah. As it may
be gratifying to have their names brought into one
view, I have here subjoined them.
1 Peter. 7 Thomas.
2 Andrew. 8 Matthew.
3 John. 9 Simon the Canaanite.
4 Philip. 10 Jude, the brother of James.
5 James the Greater. 11 James the Less.
6 Bartholomew. 12 Judas the Traitor.
N. B. Matthias was elected in the Traitor's room.
f>.y
APPAREL. See Linen.
APPREHEND. In the language of Scripture, this
word is peculiarly significant. Paul the apostle
best explains it, when he saith, " I follow after, if
that I may apprehend that, for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus." (Phil. iii. 12.) that
is, if by faith, I may be enabled to lay hold of
Christ Jesus, as the Lord by grace hath laid hold
of me.
ARCHANGEL. I should not have thought it neces-
sary, in a work of this kind, to have noticed this
name, but for the purpose of noticing at the same
time an error, into which, as I humbly conceive, not
a few have fallen. I cannot find in all the Bible,
the name archangel but twice j once in 1 Thess. iv.
16 ; and once in Jude 9. And as for archangels,
as if there were more than one, or many, the very
name itself implies that it is an error. For arch-
angel signifies the first, or prince of the order of
angels, consequently, there cannot be many firsts,
without making it necessary to alter the term. So
that, what is said of angels and archangels, together
in hymns of praise, seems to be founded in a mis-
apprehension of Scripture in relation to one arch-
angel only, for the word of God speaks of no more,
and the name is not plural.
The question is, who is this archangel, twice.,
and but twice only, noticed as such in Scripture ?
If the reader will consult both places, he will
find lhat of whomsoever it be spoken, it is only
spoken of him in office. And if the reader will
compare the passage, particularly in Jude, with
what the prophet Daniel saith, (chap. x. 13 — 21.)
I conceive that both together will throw light
upon the subject. u Lo ! " saith the prophet,
" Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help
me.". And again, he calls the same person, (ver.21.)
A R
" Michael,, your prince." In the passage of
the apostle Jude's Epistle, he saith, " Michael, the
archangel, when contending with the devil, he dis-
puted about the body of Moses." It should seem,
therefore, pretty plain, that this Michael is one and
the same person. In one he is called prince, in
the other, archangel. But in both, it is evident,
that the name is a name of office. For my own
part, I do not hesitate to believe that it is Christ
himself, which is meant by the name archangel in
Scripture; and of whom it is said, in relation
to his coming at the last day, that u he shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels."
(2 Thess. i. 7.) And elswhere, the Lord Jesus
describes this advent in similar words. (Matt,
xxv. 31 ; Zech. xiv. 5 ; Matt. xvi. 27.) And whe-
ther this appearing of Christ hath respect to his
coming in his thousand years' reign upon earth, or
to the universal judgment, the sense of the words
(in reference to the subject of the archangel we are
now considering) is the same. Some have thought
that the archangel spoken of by Jude cannot mean
Christ, because it is there said, that he durst not
bring against Satan a railing accusation, but said,
The Lord rebuke thee. But this is not an objec-
tion in the smallest degree. The Lord Jesus
durst not do it ; not because he dared not, or had
not the power, but because it belonged not to the
Redeemer's character, " who, when reviled, re-
viled not again, but committed himself to him that
judgeth righteously." (See Zech. iii. 1 — 4.)
Here we have a similar contest. Now that he
who spake was the Lord, appears by his saying,
" Behold, / have caused thine iniquity to pass from
thee, and J will clothe thee with a change of rai-
ment." Hence, therefore, it is plain from this pas-
sage, that the angel before whom Joshua, as a type
A R
57
of the church, stood, was Christ, who is elswhere
called the angel of the covenant ; (Mai. iii. 1.) the
same as Jacob spake of. (Gen. xlviii. 16.) So that
both the angel of the covenant and the archangel
are one and the same ; and both spoken of in the
nature of the office and character of Christ, for
Christ " took not on him the nature of angels, but
the seed of Abraham." (Heb. ii. 16.)
From the whole view of this subject, I venture to
believe, that, as Scripture speaks but of one arch-
angel, and that officially, that archangel is Christ.
For on the supposition, that it be not so, it becomes
a matter of greater difficulty to say, who this arch-
angel can be. If it be not Christ, it must be some
created angel. And is there a created angel
higher than Christ. If, while Jesus is called the
angel of the covenant, is there an archangel also,
above this angel of the covenant? I leave these
questions with any one, not satisfied with my for-
mer observations, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
person spoken of twice in Scripture as the arch-
angel. See Malachi and Michael.
ARK. We read in Scripture of the ark which the
Lord directed Noah to make. (Gen. vi. 14.) And
Moses in the wilderness was commanded to make
an ark. (Exod. xxv. 10.) And we read of an ark
seen by John in the temple in heaven ; but then,
this latter was visional. For the same apostle
elsewhere saith, that he K saw no temple in hea-
ven." (Rev. xi. 19. with Rev. xxi. 22.) The ark
of Noah, as well as that of Moses, were both
types of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, Noah it
is said by the Holy Ghost, (Heb. xi. 7.) " by faith
being warned of God, " prepared an ark for the sav-
ing of his house." Faith in what? Surely, faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the ark in the wilderness
is called the ark of the covenant, intimating Christ
58
A R
given of Jehovah to the people. (See Num. x.
33. Josh. iii. 11 ; vii. 6. with Isa. xlii. 6. 2
Chron. viii. 11.) We no where read of arks.
Never is it said in the word of God of more than
one ark; no more than one Lord Jesus Christ.
They who talk of arks, like them who talk of
archangels, do err, "not knowing the Scriptures,
neither the power of God." And it were to be
wished, that such men would call to mind the
Lord's jealousy in the case of the men of Beth-
shemesh, (1 Sam. vi. 19.) and also the circumstance
of Uzzah, (1 Chron. xiii. 10.) What was the sin
of all those but overlooking Christ? And wherein
do those differ, who talk of arks instead of one
ark, and that expressly, and on no other account
valuable, than as it represented the Lord Jesus ?
(1 Sam. iv. 3. 2 Sam. xv. 24.)
ARM OF THE LORD. In the language of Scrip-
ture, this is one of the names of Christ. Thus
the prophet calls upon the Lord to arise for his
people. (Isa. 1. 9.) And thus the Lord promiseth,
under this character, to make bare his holy arm ;
that is, to reveal Christ. (Isa. Hi. 10. Luke i. 51.)
ARMIES. The church is called so, and said to be
terrible. (Song vi. 10.) And in allusion to the
same, the Lord himself is called the Lord of hosts.
And hence, that expression in the hymn, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, or rather Ze-
baoth, which signifies, hosts or armies. Beauti-
fully the Lord takes this title to himself, not only
to indicate the greatness of his power, but the
greatness of his security to his church and people,
in his care and government over them. And it is
a blessed thing to have this Lord God of Zebaoth
for our stay. See Sabaoth.
ARMOUR. In Scripture terms, this word is for the
most part used spiritually, meaning that divine
39
strength is to be our armour against all opposition,
and under all human weakness. (See Rom. xiii.
12. 2 Cor. vi. 7 ; x. 4. Eph. vi. 11—13.)
ARROW. This word is not unfrequently used in
Scripture to denote divine judgments, and terrors
in the soul from the arrow of the Lord. (See Zech.
ix. 14. Job vi. 4. Ps. xxxviii. 7, Heb. iv. 12.)
ASCEND and ASCENSION. With peculiar refer-
ence to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Psalmist demands,
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" (Psal.
xxiv. 3.) And in answer to the enquiry, we may
truly say, that the glorious doctrine of the ascension
is never cordially received, nor indeed properly
understood, until that we are taught by the Lord
the Spirit, to have both a just apprehension of his
person who is ascended, and the blessed purposes
included in that ascension for his church and peo-
ple. The personal honour put upon Christ in our
nature, and the oneness and interest all his re-
deemed have in that honour, are among the first
and most important views we are called upon
everlastingly to cherish in the heart, concerning
our risen and exalted Saviour. It is our nature
in the person of the man Christ Jesus that is thus
exalted. And the purpose of that exaltation is,
to receive gifts for men : or, as the margin of our
Bibles renders the expression, it is to receive
gifts in the man, even the human nature of Christ.
(See Ps. lxviii. 18.) Oh ! precious, precious
truth ! For as in the Godhead of Christ's nature,
no gifts could be received, all things being his, in
common with the Father and the Holy Ghost;
so when received by Christ, as the Head of his
body the church, it is as the Head of communi-
cation in " the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."
(Eph. i. 22, 23.) And when this blessed doctrine
is fully received, and lived upon, and enjoyed,
no
A S
what unknown blessings are contained in this one
view, which the soul hath in this unceasing contem-
plation of our glorious and ascended Lord Jesus !
ASHER. One of the sons of Jacob, by Zilpah.
(Gen. xxx. 12, 13.) His name means happy, or
blessed ; taken from the same word in the root
which means blessed. Hence, Jacob, when a-
dying, declared that " the bread of Asher should
be fat." (Gen. xlix. 20.) And Moses, when bless-
ing the children of Israel, with his last prophetical
benediction, followed up the same in allusion to his
name as blessed ; " thy shoes (said Moses) shall
be iron and brass ; and as thy days, so shall thy
strength be." (Deut. xxxiii. 24, 25.)
I cannot help remarking upon the name of
Asher, that there is in it somewhat of peculiar
gracefulness. The noun, which is taken from the
root, is never used but in the plural number, bless-
edness instead of blessed, as in the first word of
the first Psalm. And the Hebrews give a very
decided reason for it. They say, that blessedness
doth not depend upon a single blessing, but upon
all. Hence, in allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is the blessedness, the Asher of his people.
So that the opening of that Psalm being plural,
should be read with an eye to Christ ; blessed-
ness is the man, &c. And of none but Christ
could this be said ; neither to any other but Him,
could the things spoken of in that Psalm refer.
ASHES. In the language of Scripture, ashes are
sometimes spoken of to denote great humility and
contrition of heart. Thus Abraham calls himself
"dust and ashes." (Gen xviii. 27.) Job saith, that
he " abhorred himself, and repented in dust and
ashes." (Job xlii. 6. See Dan. ix. 3. Ps. cii. 9.
Lam.iii. 16.)
ASP. The holy Scriptures, when speaking of the
AS
61
venom of asps, mean to convey by figure the awful
nature of sin, which, like that deadly poison, hath
infused itself into our whole nature. Hence
Moses describes it, (Deut. xxxii. 33.) and Job,
(xx. 14.) and Paul. (Rom iii. 13.) But how
sweetly doth the prophet Isaiah describe, under
the same figure, the application of Christ as a
balsam, to cure the envenomed poison, and to
render the serpent's bite as harmless. "The
sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the
cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain." (Isa. xi. 8.)
ASS. I have thought it worth while, to stop the
reader in this place, in order to make an observa-
tion or two on the condescension of the Lord Jesus,
respecting his use of this animal, in the unequalled
humility of our Lord's character. We read (Matt.
xxi.2,&c.) that the Lord Jesus, to fulfil the prophecy
of one of his servants the prophets, made his entry
into Jerusalem on an ass. But there seems to be
a general mistake in respect to the humbleness of
Christ, in what it consisted. Not, I apprehend,
in riding on the ass, but in the person of the rider.
White asses were among very noble animals in the
estimation of the people of the East. Witness
what Deborah said of them in her song of triumph,
(Judges v. 10.) u Speak ye that ride on white asses,
ye that sit in judgment. (Judges xii. 14.) And
Jacob, in his prophecy concerning Judah, evidently
had an eye to Christ: " Binding his foal (said Jacob)
unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice
vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his
clothes in the blood of grapes." (Gen.xlix. 1 1.) The
humbleness of Christ, on this occasion, was the
meekness and lowliness of his person, not from the
noble beast he rode on.
62
AV
But I will beg to detain the reader with another
thought upon the subject, which hath not, as far as
I have ever read or heard, been noticed ; and yet
may be after all, for aught I know, the chief cir-
cumstance for which the prophet predicted, and
Jesus fulfilled, the prophecy. (Zech. ix. 9.) The
ass, though a noble animal, was deemed by the
Levitical law , unclean, for it chewed not the cud.
(Lev. xi. 26.) And the same law declared, that
whosoever touched such, should be deemed unclean.
It was on this beast the Lord Jesus was pleased to
make his entrance into Jerusalem. And was it not
meant [I do not decide the point, but merely ask the
question] to shew, that he came to take away the
defilements and uncleanness of his people ? If
Christ became both a sin and a curse for his peo-
ple, (2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13.) might there not be
somewhat significant and typical in thus riding upon
a beast deemed by the law unclean? I leave the
reader to his own determination on the point, under
the grace of God,
AVENGER. Particular mention is made in Scripture
of the avenger of blood, (Deut. xix. 6.) and cities
of refuge wereappointed for the manslayer. (Numb,
xxxv. 12. Josh. xx. 5.) There is much of Christ
as a refuge, represented under this appointment,
and we shall do well at any time when reading those
Scriptures, to be on the look out for discoveries of
the Lord Jesus in the several features of the his-
tory. Every man, by sin, is a murderer, yea, a
soul murderer, and that of himself. And the
avenger, both in the law of God and the justice of
God, is always, it- may be said, in pursuit of the
sinner, until he hath taken shelter in Christ.
Jesus is the city of refuge. And Jesus is near to
flee unto. (Heb. vi. 18.) It was not the strong-
hold of those places which secured the manslaver,
68
but because it was the provision of divine mercy.
u Salvation the Lord appointed for walls and bul-
warks." (Isa. xxvi. 1.) And what endeared the
city of refuge to the manslayer was, that it was
wholly of God's own appointing. And the gene-
ral and extensive nature of its security was, that
the poor stranger, as well as the Israelite, found a
like sanctuary. (Num. xxxv. 15.) Such is the Lord
Jesus, in the greatness and extensiveness of his
salvation. " For (saith the apostle) there is neither
Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, male nor
female, for they are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal.
iii. 20.) Sweet type of Jesus, the city of refuge.
See Bezer.
AWAKE. In scriptural language, this word is very
frequently used to denote a spiritual recovery from
the death and deadness of sin. Hence, the apos-
tle saith, (Ephes. v. 14.) " Awake, thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light." Hence, the church saith, I sleep,
but my heart waketh." (Song- v. 2.) Hence, the
state of the unregeuerate, who are never awaken-
ed, are described by the prophet under the imag-e
of a perpetual sleep. (Jer. li. 57.) Sometimes, the
Lord himself is called upon by the church, under
the image of awakening, to come to her deliver-
ance, " Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord," &c.
(Isa. li. 9.) And the church, in like manner, is
called upon by the Lord, Isa. li. 17; lii. 1.
AZARIAH. There were many of this name among
the Israelites. (See 1 Chron. vi. 9, 10. 2 Chron.
xxvi. 17.) The name means, assistance from the
Lord, from Azar.
AZEL. One of the family of Kish. (1 Chron. viii. 37.)
This name should seem to have been derived
from Azazel, taken away, or separated, and by
which the scape-goat in the wilderness was called.
See Expiation.
64
B
BAAL. A name generally used for an idol. And
when more than a single idol is spoken of, the
word is made plural, Baalim. The children of
Israel, from being surrounded with idolatrous
neighbours, too often were led away by their
allurements to the same idolatry. (See Num. xxii.
41. Judges ii. 13. 1 Kings xvi. 31. 2 Kings x. 19.
Hosea ii. 8.)
I cannot take a more effectual method to shew
the Lord's watchful care over his Israel, to pre-
serve them from this contagion, than what the
Lord himself hath manifested in that beautiful
chapter, the second of the prophecy of Hosea. If
the reader will turn to it, and peruse it from
beginning to end, he will observe, that at that
time the tribes of the Lord were much disposed to
idolatry. The Lord sets himself therefore to bring
them back, and in opening to them the prospects
of salvation, shews how he will bring them under
afflictions, in wilderness dispensations, and then
having hedged their way up with thorns, compels
them, by his grace, to return to him their first
lover. And to keep them from revolting again, he
will open to them a new name, whereby they shall
know him and delight in him. u And it shall be in
that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me
Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali. For I will
take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth."
(Hosea ii. 16, 17.) In the margin of the Bible,
Ishi is rendered my husband. The reader will
have a full apprehension of the grace and loving
kindness of the Lord in this ordination, when he
is told, that as the word Baal, Lord ; or Baali, my
lord, was a general name to imply lordship, or
65
sovereignty : the Lord Jehovah had been con-
sidered as Israel's Baal, to distinguish him from the
nations' Baal around. But as there was not dis-
tinction enough in those general names, to preserve
Israel in a proper sense of reverence between
Jehovah, and those dunghill gods, being all alike
called Baal, or Lord ; the Lord graciously saith,
in this sweet Scripture, that he will be no more
called Baal, but will lose as it were, the name of
Lord, in that of husband. Thou shalt call me
Ishi : that is, my husband, my man. Was there
ever an instance of such rich grace and conde-
scension and love ?
I beg the reader to pause over it, and ponder it
well. And when he hath duly contemplated the
unequalled subject, let him add to it the farther
consideration, how the Lord Jesus Christ hath
really, and indeed, fulfilled all he here promised,
in becoming the Husband of his church and peo-
ple. Hence the prophet sings, " For thy Maker
is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name :
and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the
God of the whole earth shall he be called."
(Isa. liv. 5.) Surely, nothing can be wanting to
give the most finishing testimony to the grace that
is in Christ Jesus. Blessed Husband of thy church ;
be thou my Ishi for ever !
BAAL-BERITH. (Judges viii. 33. and ix. 4.) This
dunghill god was made the idol of the children ot
Israel, after the death of Gideon. The name
Berith, signifies a covenant; so that Baal-berith
means the Lord of the covenant. But what cove-
nant ? Was Israel so far gone in idolatry, as not
only to set up an idol, but to insult Jehovah in his
gracious covenant? To what an awful state is our
nature reduced by the fall ! Into what an awful
apostacy may, and will, every man sink, void of
VOL. VI. f
GG
grace ! Reader, turn to that sweet covenant pro-
mise, Jer. xxxii. 40.
BAAL-GAD. This was another of the heathen idols,
and as we learn from the book of Joshua, (chap,
xi. 17.) was set up in the valley of Lebanon. Gad
means fortune ; so that Baal-gad means a lord of
fortune.
BAAL-HAMON. I am inclined to think that this
was not an idol, but a place ; for the church, cele-
brating the glories of her Solomon, saith, that he
had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. (Song viii. 11.)
Hamon, is people, multitudes, or riches. So that
Baal-hamon may be rendered, lord or master of a
troop, or people. We all apprehend, that "the
vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of
Israel ; and the men of Judah his pleasant plant."
(Isa. v. 7.)
BAAL-MEON. This was the idol of Beth-jesimoth,
and is rendered, " the Lord of the house."
(Ezek. xxv. 9.)
BAAL-PEOR. This was the famous, or rather infa-
mous dunghill idol of Moab ; and which they
tempted the Israelites to worship. The Psalmist
mournfully speaks of it, (Ps. cvi. 18.) " they joined
themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the offerings of
the dead." (Num. xxv. 1 — 3. Hos. ix. 10.) From
what this prophet saith of their shame ; and from
the impure name of this strumpet idol ; there is
reason to believe that the greatest indecency
was joined with idolatry, in the worship of this
Baal-peor.
BAAL-PERAZIM. At this spot, the Philistines
were put to flight by David, (2 Sam. v. 20. 1 Chron.
xiv. 11.) The margin of the Bible hath rendered
this name, the plain of breaches. And, conse-
quently, David was the lord or master of it.
BAAL-SHALISHA. We meet with mention of this
(37
place, 2 Kings iv. 42, but whether there was an
idol there, is not said. Shalesh is the Hebrew for
three. So that it may be read the lord of three.
But the cause for the name is difficult to explain.
BAAL-TAMAR. A place near Gibeah. (Judges
xx. 33.) It might be famous for palm-trees ; for so
Tamar means.
BAAL-ZEBUB. So called from Baal, lord, and
Zebub, a fly. And this was the ridiculous idol wor-
shipped at Ekron, to whom Ahaziah, king of Israel,
sent to enquire concerning his recovery from a fall
he had from his terrace. (See 2 Kings i. 2, 3.)
How very sadly this weak prince answered to his
name ! The man that was called Ahaziah should
have, had better views of the Lord, Achaz and Jah,
meant, vision of the Lord. Whereas, his was a
vision of folly !
The Egyptians, it should seem, as well as the
Philistines, being near neighbours, paid divine
homage to this contemptible idol. It is possible,
that the folly of this idolatry might take its rise
from the plague of the flies, which Egypt suffered on
account of Israel. (See Exod. viii. 20, &c.) But it
is said also by historians, that the rivers of Egypt
abound with flies whose sting is very painful. It is
worthy remark, that the name of this idol changed
only from Baal-zebub in Hebrew, to Beel-zebub in
Greek, was given to the devil, in the days of our
Lord's ministry upon earth. It dotli not appear that
he was worshipped at that time ; but it is evident
that he was so generally known and acknowledged
by this name, that the Pharisees made use of it as a
name well known, and in a daring blasphemy,
ascribed the miracles of the Lord Jesus to his
power. (See Matt. xii. 24.)
BAAL-ZEPHON. Some have thought that this
was only the name of a place. And some have
f 2
68
concluded that it was the name of an idol. The
words together may be read, the lord of secret,
meaning- one that inspects, and discovers what is
hidden. One thing however is certain concerning
it, that it was over against Baal-zephon, the Lord
directed Israel to encamp, when the Egyptians
were pursuing them after their departure from
Egypt. I beg the reader to consult the Scripture
concerning it, (Exod. xiv. 2.) Piha-hiroth it should
seem was so called, because it formed the mouth
or gullet of entrance to the sea. And Migdol,
which means a tower, was a watch-place, where it
is probable that this idol was placed to watch, or
pretend to watch, at the extremity of the kingdom of
Egypt, on this part to the sea, by way of deterring
runaway servants, or slaves, like Israel, from at-
tempting their escape. It was in this very spot,
as if, at once, to shew Israel the folly of such ridi-
culous idols ; and to shew Egypt of what little
avail their dunghill deities were ; Israel was com-
manded to encamp, from whence they should be-
hold the arm of the Lord displayed for their de-
liverance, and at the same time Egypt's destruction.
(See Exod. xii. 12, &c. Num. xxxii. 4.)
BABE. I should not have noticed this article, being
so perfectly understood in its common sense and
meaning, but for the peculiar use that is made of it,
in reference to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to his church in him. There is somewhat very
sweet and interesting in it, considered in these
views. To contemplate the Ancient of days as
the Babe of Bethlehem ; and to behold the church
in every individual member, as babes in Christ, the
imagination finds large scope for the indulgence
of the most solemn meditation, when the subject is
opened to the believer by God the Holy Ghost.
We enter upon hallowed ground, when the Lord
B A 6<j
the Spirit leads us to behold by forth Him, whom
the apostles called " the holy child Jesus." (Acts
iv. 27.) And there is a most blessed and inexpres-
sible sweetness in the soul's joy, when, at the same
time, through the same almighty Teacher, we
enter into an apprehension of our child-like union
with him, and interest in him. (Luke ii. 12 — 16.
Psal. viii.2. Matt. xi. 25. 1 Pet. ii. 2.
BABEL. This word is, what it is designed to -be,
babel, or confusion. And our English language,
in the strong term of bablers, has very happily
borrowed from the Scripture babel or babbel, to
express confusion. It were unnecessary for me to
add, that Babel was the name given to the tower
which the impiety of men began to build after the
deluge. (Gen. xi. 9.) And here also was the foun-
dation of that city of Babylon laid, which in after
ages became the confusion and sorrow of the
church during the seventy years' desolation. (Gen.
x. 10.) And to go farther still, mystical Babylon, in
the error and follies by which it is distinguished,
may well retain the name, as the Scriptures have
given it, for nothing but confusion is in it, and in
confusion must it end. (Rev. xvii. 5. and xviii.
throughout.)
I cannot forbear adding one short, but I hope
not unprofitable observation, by way of noting the
wonderful grace and overruling power of God.
By the confusion at Babel, in a diversity of
tongues, and which ever since hath distinguished
nations ; the Lord rendered that miracle at Pen-
tecost, of his poor servants speaking in every lan-
guage then under heaven in a moment, and with the
greatest fluency, a full proof of u the Lord speak-
ing in them, and by them." But for this diversity
of language the glory of this miracle would have
been wanting ; since, had all nations, as before
70
the confusion at the tower of Babel they did, spo-
ken but one language ; the disciples of Jesus
would have needed the use of no other. But by
this punishment in the plains of Shinar, the Lord
laid the foundation of his own glory and his ser-
vants' honour ; and the wonderful conversion of
souls, at that season of Pentecost, demonstrated
both the power of God, and the wisdom of God,
in confirmation of the faith.
BABYLON. This eminent city, which was once the
most noble and magnificent in the whole earth, the
capital of the Chaldean empire : and concerning
which the Scriptures themselves speak so highly,
(See Dan. iv. 30.) is now so totally overthrown,
that not a vestige remains. By Isaiah the pro-
phet, the Lord declared this ruin, (Isa. xiii. 19. to
the end ;) and every traveller that hath seen the
ground it stood on confirms it. The approach to
the ruins, on account of the venomous creatures
which inhabit it, is so dangerous, that no man durst
venture, and many parts for ages have not been
explored. Who that considers this, and connects
with it what the prophets declared concerning it,
years before the event took place, but must be
struck with wonder and praise ! I beg the reader
to look again at Isaiah's prophecy, chap. xiii. 19
to the end.
And when the reader hath duly pondered the
subject, concerning the natural history of Babylon,
thus desolated as the enemy of Christ and his
church ; he will do well to consider the subject in
the spiritual sense of it, according to what the
Scriptures have declared of mystical Babylon. Let
him turn to the Revelations of John, and hear
what the Spirit saith, concerning the awful close
to all the enemies of Christ and his church. (See
Rev. chap. xvii. and xviii.)
71
BACA, or BACHA. We meet with this word but
once in Scripture, and that is in the book of Psalms,
(Ps. lxxxiv. 6.) The meaning- of it seems to be
weeping-; though some consider it as referring to
the mulberry tree.
BACKSLIDING. I humbly conceive that this word,
and which we often meet with in Scripture, is not
so well understood, by the generality of readers,
as it were to be wished. The common received
opinion concerning backsliding is, that it is turning
back, or going away, from the Lord. Whereas
the very word itself implies sliding backward, and
not turning round, and going away. The Lord
himself, by his servant the prophet Hosea, makes
use of a simile, which seems to explain the mean-
ing, w Israel (saith the Lord) slideth back as a
backsliding heifer." (Hosea iv. 16.) Now, how
doth an heifer slide back ? I apprehend not by
turning back, and going another path ; but like
one on slippery ground, whose steps, so far from
gaining ground, rather lose ground. But all the
while the heifer is still with her face and feet the
same way, only sliding back, and not getting for-
ward. And what follows, in the same verse, seems
to confirm this sense of backsliding. "Now the
Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place."
So that the Lord undertakes to preserve Israel
from sliding back, by putting his people in a
roomy place, where the ground shall not be
slippery.
I do not presume to suppose, that I am right in
this my conjecture concerning backsliding. I only
venture to give my opinion upon it, as it strikes
me. The Lord pardon me if I err. One thing,
however, is certain, the recovery of all backsliding
is of the Lord ; and his promise to his people, on
this subject, is most blessed. " I will heal their
72
backslidings, I will love them freely." (Hos. xiv. 4.
Jer. iii. 22.)
BALAAM. This was the famous, or rather infamous
conjuror of the East, whose awful history is so
fully recorded in the book of Numbers, and whose
most awful end is given to us in the 31st chapter
of the same book, and 8th verse. (See also Joshua
xiii. 22.) His name, it should seem, is derived
from Balel, and signifies old age. For his history,
I refer the reader to Num. xx. and the two follow-
ing chapters. In relation to the character of
Balaam, it will be proper for me to beg the reader's
attention to what the word of God hath left
upon record concerning him, in order to have a
clear apprehension of the subject; comparing
Scripture with Scripture, as we are commanded to
do, 1 Cor. ii. 13.
It appears from the accounts given of Balaam,
in the opening of his history, (Num. xxii. 1, &c.)
that Balak, prince of Moab, fearful of the growing
power of Israel, invited this Balaam from the East,
to come to Moab and to use enchantments against
Israel. It should seem from the history of Egypt,
in the magicians we read of in that history, that
this custom of using enchantments among idola-
trous nations, was very common. (Exod. vii. 11.)
Prompted by the love of gain, Balaam readily lis-
tened to the messengers of Balak, and lodged
them for the night, pretending that he would con-
consult the Lord upon the subject, and go with
them if permitted. But the Lord commanding him
not to go, for that the people, the prince of Moab
wished him to curse, were blessed ; Balaam sent
the messengers away, without going with them.
We are not informed by what means the Lord
communicated to Balaam his command: probably
by a vision of the night ; but, certainly, in such a
B A
73
way as left Balaam with full impressions on his
mind, had he not heard the history of Israel be-
fore, that they were " a people blessed of the
Lord."
Balak, not discouraged by Balaam's refusal,
sent again to him : and the wretch, earnest to go,
pretended again to ask the Lord's leave. And
the sequel of this embassy from Balak was, that
he arose and went. There seems to occur some
little difficulty in the relation, as given in the
Bible concerning Balaam's going ; because it is
said by the Lord, If the men come to call thee,
arise and go. But the thing had been determined
before by the Lord's telling Balaam, that the peo-
ple were blessed. How then could he dare to
tempt the Lord by any farther enquiry ? and how
could he presume to go forth, at the call of this
idolatrous prince, to curse those whom the Lord
had told him were blessed ? We cannot but sup-
pose that Balaam, coming out of the East, must
have heard of Israel, and the Lord's care over
them. Indeed his pretending to consult the Lord,
at the first invitation of Balak, very fully proves,
that he was no stranger to the history of Israel ;
and the Lord's bringing them out of Egypt, which
all the people of the East had heard of with trem-
bling. (Exod. xv. 14, &c.) So that Balaam could
not be ignorant of the Lord's love for Israel.
But what decides the infamy of Balaam's cha-
racter is this, that under all the impressions that
the Lord had blessed Israel, and would bless them,
Balaam was still so very earnest to oblige Balak, and
get his promised reward, that he set off expressly
for the purpose of cursing Israel ; neither, as the
apostle saith, did u the dumb ass, speaking with
man's voice, forbidding the madness of the pro-
phet," keep back his feet from the evil of his
74
journey ; so much did he love " the wages of
unrighteousness." (See 2 Pet. ii. 16.)
I need not go through with a comment on the
several interesting particulars of Balaam's tamper-
ing with his conscience while with Balak, in seek-
ing enchantments, and in using every effort to
curse God's people, while all he said and did the
Lord over-ruled to make him bless them. But
there is one feature in the history and character of
this man, which will serve to explain the whole ;
and to shew, that when disappointed of all the
means he had used to gratify Balak, though com-
pelled by a power he could not resist, to bless
those he wished to curse ; yet he gave Balak an
advice concerning Israel, by way of accomplish-
ing their ruin, which, but for the Lord's preventing
and pardoning grace, would indeed have tended
to the ruin of Israel more than all Balak's arms,
or Balaam's enchantments ; namely, in counselling
Balak to tempt Israel to come to the sacrifices,
and to open an intercourse of Israel's sons with
the daughters of Moab. This plan, therefore,
Balak adopted ; and soon after we find Israel at
the feast of their infamous sacrifices. The
Psalmist, speaking of this sad history, (Ps. cvi.
28, 29.) saith, that " they joined themselves unto
Baal-peor, and did eat the sacrifices of the dead."
This Baal-peor was an obscene idol, before which
image, the votaries offered the most horrid prosti-
tution of their bodies, and wrought such abomina-
tion as would be shocking to the feelings of chas-
tity to relate. (See Baal-peor. See Num. xxv.
throughout.)
We should not have known that it was from the
advice of Balaam, the Moabites enticed Israel to
sin, in the matter of Baal-peor, had not the Holy
Ghost graciously informed us of it, in his holy
7.3
word. But, if the reader will turn to the second
chapter of Revelations, and read the fourteenth
verse, there the whole matter is explained. (See
also Num. xxxi. 15, 16.)
The awful termination of the life of Balaam is
just as might be expected. I refer the reader to
the Scripture account of it." (Num. xxxi. 8.)
How Balaam came to be amongst the Midianites
when the Lord's judgments overtook them, is -not
said ; for we are told, in the former history, (Num.
xxiv. 25.) that he rose up and went unto his place.
Probably, he returned afterwards to live with the
Midianites, to see if he might be farther helpful to
them by his enchantments. And, perhaps, as
Balak had promised to reward him with very great
honours, he might have quitted his home, in the
east of Aram, to be made a prince among the
Midianites. But be this as it may, here he was, by
the overruling power and providence of God,
when Moab and Midian were destroyed ; and fell
with them, unpitied, and with infamy on his name
for ever.
We must not close our view of Balaam, without
a short observation of the awfulness of such a
character. When we read the many blessed things
which the Lord, as he had graciously said, com-
pelled Balaam to utter concerning his Israel, * the
word that I shall speak unto thee, (said the Lord)
that thou shalt speak." (Num. xxii. 20 — 35.)
When we hear this impious man's confession, that
"he had heard the words of God, and knew the
knowledge of the Most High ; had seen the vision
of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having
his eyes open." (Num. xxiv. 15, 16.) When we
hear such things dropping from his lips, and in the
same moment hiring himself out for the honours
of this world, as an enchanter, to curse the people
76
of God, whom God had told him were blessed ;
what an awful picture doth this afford of human
depravity ! Many of God's dear children, from
mistaken views of such characters, have been fre-
quently tempted to call in question their own
sincerity, and to fear, lest like Balaam, they should
be found apostates in the end. But all this from the
misapprehension of things, and not from the smallest
likeness between their circumstances and Balaam's.
There may be, and indeed there often is, a na-
tural apprehension which natural men often have,
concerning divine things, where there is no one
work of the Lord upon the heart. Men, by read-
ings or by hearing, may acquire great knowledge
in the truths of God, so as to speak and discourse,
as Balaam did very sweetly on the subject ; but
whose souls never felt any love of God, nor desire of
salvation. This is head knowledge, not heart in-
fluence. This is all nature, not grace. Devils
know more, in point of doctrine and the truths of
Jesus, to their eternal sorrow, than many of "God's
dear children do, to their eternal joy, while here
below. Witness what they said, Luke iv. 41.
at a time when his people were, many of them,
ignorant of him. How shall we mark the differ-
ence ? The thing is very easy, under the blessed
Spirits teaching; "when the Spirit witnesseth to
our spirits that we are his children." There is a
pleasure, a delight, an holy joy, in the soul of
the regenerated, in the view of Christ and his sal-
vation. Not all the riches of the earth would
tempt such to curse the people of God, or even
to hear the people of God cursed, but with the
utmost indignation. In their darkest hours, and
under the dullest of their frames, there is still a
secret desire within to the love of Jesus, and the
remembrance of his name. (Isa. xxvi. 9.) And
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77
while such as Balaam write their own mittimus for
everlasting* misery, as in those sou 1-piercing words,
when speaking- of Christ, " I shall see him, but not
now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh ;" (Num.
xxiv. 17.) the hope and expectation of the
poorest and humblest child of God is expressed
in those sweet words, " As for me, I shall behold
thy face in righteousness ; I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness." (Ps. xvii. 15.)
There is one thing more I wish to drop a word
of observation upon, respecting the history of
Balaam. The reader will, probably, anticipate
the circumstance to which I refer ; namely, the
conversation which Balaam held with his ass. I
do not hestitate to say, that I wholly agree with
St. Austin, and accept the fact simply as it is
related, and believe it to have been a miracle of
the Lord's. I form my opinion on the authority
of the Holy Ghost, who, by his servant the apostle
Peter, expressly saith, that u the dumb ass, speak-
ing with man's voice, forbad the madness of the
prophet." (2 Pet. ii. 16.) The occasion was as
extraordinary and interesting, as the event of the
animal being so commissioned to reprove ; and
for such an occasion, as in numberless other in-
stances in life, the ordinary appointments in the
Lord's providences may be well supposed to be
superseded. The only, or at least, the most strik-
ing circumstance in the whole relation is, the loss
of the wonderful event on Balaam's mind, that he
should have been so addressed, and give such an
answer, and yet persist in his iniquitous journey.
But even here again, similar effects on the minds
of sinners, in every age, are continually produced,
and the end is the same. What conviction was fre-
quently wrought upon the minds of the Jews, when
beholding the miracles of Christ! But yet, what
78
lasting effect did that conviction ultimately pro-
duce ! He who well knew the human heart, void
of sovereign grace, hath left it upon record as an
unerring conclusion, that where the word of God
is despised and set at nought, no higher evidences,
even of miracles, will succeed : " If they hear not
Moses and the prophets, neither would they be
persuaded, though one should rise from the dead."
(Luke xvi. 31.)
BALADAN. A king of Babylon. (2 Kings xx. 12.)
The name seems to be a compound of Baal and
Adorn, both meaning lord.
BALAK. The Prince of Moab and Midian : the son
of Zippor. We have his history, Num. xxii. and
following chapters. His name signifies, wasting,
from Lakak, to lick up, and the prefix Beth, with.
See Balaam.
B AMAH. We meet with this name but once, namely
in Ezek. xx. 29. It means an high place. Bamoth
is the plural of it, and we meet with this several
times, Num. xxi. 19, 20. Bamoth Baal, a city be-
yond Jordan. (Josh. xiii. 17.)
BANI. There are several of this name in Scripture,
(See 2 Sam. xxiii. 36. 1 Chron. vi. 46. Ezra ii. 10.)
Some render the word, from Ban, son. Hence,
Rachel named her son, Benoni, in her dying mo-
ments, while Jacob called him Benjamin. The mo-
ther's name made him Ben, the son, oni, of my sor-
row. The father's Ben, the son, jamin, the right
hand, or the hand of strength.
BANNER. In a figurative language, Christ is said
to be an ensign, or standard, to his people. (Isa.
xi. 10, 12.) Hence, the Psalmist, in allusion to
Christ, " Thou hast given a banner to them that feared
thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.*
(Ps. lx. 4.) And when Moses built an altar, after the
victory obtained over Amalek, he called the name
78
of it Jehovah Nissi ; that is, the Lord is my banner.
And what Lord but Christ ? Were not both the
altar and the banner tokens of the Lord Jesus
Christ? (Exod. xvii. 15.) Hence, the church speaks,
in allusion to Christ, " In the name of our God, we
set up our banners." (Ps. xx. 5.) And hence also, the
church, when beheld in her warlike appearance,
fighting- in the strength of her Lord, is said to be,
"fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as
an army with banners." (Song vi. 4. 10.) It is
very blessed to eye Christ in this most glorious
character, as Jehovah's banner to his people, for
their waging war with sin, death, and hell. He is
lifted up from everlasting, in the glories of his per-
son, as the church's Husband from all eternity.
Hence, the Standard-bearer among ten thousand,
under whose shadow all his redeemed are safe, and
made more than conquerors through Him that lov-
eth them. Reader ! believer ! friend ! are we
under this almighty Banner ? Hath the Lord Jesus
brought us to his banqueting house, and is his ban-
ner over us of love? Oh, then, let us sit down
under his shadow, for, surely, all his fruit is sweet
to our taste! Sure banner of peace with God, and
goodwill towards men ! See Jehovah Nissi.
BAPTISM. One of the ordinances which the Lord
Jesus hath appointed in his church. An outward
token, or sign, of an inward and spiritual grace. A
dedication to the glorious, holy, undivided Three in
One, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in whose joint
name baptism is performed, and from whose uni-
ted blessings in Christ, it can alone be rendered
effectual. (Matt, xxviii. 19.) Beside this ordinance,
which Christ hath appointed as the introduction to
his church, we are taught to be always on the
watch, in prayer and supplication, for the continual
baptisms of the Holy Ghost. Concerning the per-
80 B A
sonal baptisms of the Lord Jesus Christ, we hear
Jesus speaking of them during his ministry. (See
Luke xii. 50.) Hence, to the sons of Zebedee,
the Lord said, u Can ye drink of the cup that I shall
drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I
am baptized with ? " And Jesus added, " Ye shall
drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism
that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptised."
(Mark x. 38, 39.)
Some have thought, that these expressions are
figurative of sufferings. But there doth not seem
sufficient authority in the word of God to prove this.
And, indeed, the subject is too much obscured by
those expressions, to determine that sufferings were
the baptisms to which the Lord had respect.
Besides, had sufferings been meant by Christ, could
he mean that the sons of Zebedee were to sustain
agonies like himself in the garden and on the cross ?
This were impossible.
Others, by baptism*, have taken the expression of
John the Baptist literally, where he saith, " I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance ; but he
that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes
I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire." (Matt. 'hi. 11.)
Others, with more probability of truth, have consi-
dered the baptisms of the Holy Ghost, and with
fire, to mean his manifold gifts and graces. The
Old Testament spake of " the Spirit of judgment
and the Spirit of burning." (Isa. iv. 4.) And the
New Testament gives the record of the first de-
scent of the Holy Ghost, after Christ's return to
glory, in the shape of cloven tongues, like as of fire,
which sat upon each of them. (Acts ii. 4.) It were
devoutly to be prayed for, and sought for by faith,
that all true believers in Christ were earnest for
the continual influences of the Holy Ghost, as the
81
only real and sure testimony of being baptized unto
Christ, in having pui on Christ. For if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
(Gal. iii. 27. Rom. viii. 9.)
BAPTIST. John the Baptist, the herald and fore-
runner of our Lord, predicted by the prophets.
(See Isa. xl. 1 — 8. Mai. iii. I.) I must refer to
the Gospels for the history of the Baptist. It
would far go beyond the limits of this work, • to
enter upon the account of John's life. One feature
in his history and character I would only beg to
make an observation upon, and that is, indeed, in
my view, a very important one ; namely, on his
testimony to the person and glory of Christ. The
reader will recollect, that concerning John the
Baptist, Jesus himself declared, that " among them
that were born of women, there had never arisen a
greater prophet than John the Baptist." (Matt. xi.
11.) Now attend to what this greatest born of wo-
men saith, concerning his almighty Master : u The
Jews sent priests and Levites to ask John who he
was ; and he confessed, and denied not ; but con-
fessed, I am not the Christ. And they said, Who
art thou? And he said, I am the voice of one cry-
ing in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the
Lord." (John i. 19—23. yea, to 31.) And what
is a voice ? Merely a sound, and no more. It is
not so much as a person, but only ministers to a
certain purpose, for which it is designed, and then
dies away in the air, and is heard no more. Such,
in comparison to the Lord Jesus Christ, was this
greatest of all prophets, born among women. What
a blessed testimony to the Godhead and glory of
Jesus ! Oh ! that Socinians and Deists would think
of it!
BARABBAS. A well known name, rendered memo-
rable from being preferred by the Jews to the Lord
VOL. VI. G
82
Jesus Christ, though a murderer and a thief. His
name signifies, son of the father, from Bar, son ; and
Ab, father.
BARACHEL. Father of Elihu. (Job xxxii. 2.) His
name signifies, one who blesseth God ; from Barach,
to bless ; and El, God
BARACHIAS. Father of Zacharias, spoken of Matt,
xxiii. 35. His name signifies, to bless the Lord ;
from Barach, to bless; and Jah, Lord. We meet
with several of this name is Scripture. (1 Chron. iii.
20; vi.39; and ix. 16.)
BARAK. The son of Abinoam. We have his his-
tory, Judges iv. and v. His name signifies, thunder.
BAR-JESUS. A false prophet, spoken of Actsxiii.
6. His name signifies, the son of Jesus
BAR-JONA. The son of Jonah. (Matt. xvi. 17.)
Sometimes Jonah means pigeon.
BARNABAS. The son of the prophet, from Nabi, a
prophet. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles
derives his name from Jabah, consolation. (Acts
iv. 36.)
BARSABAS. The son of return ; for so the word
seems to be best explained. This man was so highly-
esteemed by the apostles, as 1o be put in nomina-
tion for the apostolic office, in the room of the traitor
Judas. (Acts i. 23.)
BARTHOLOMEW. One of the apostles of Christ.
His name signifies, a son of Tholomy, or, as some
read, Ptolemy. Some are of opinion, that Bartho-
lomew and Nathaniel are the same person. And
in confirmation of this, it is remarkable, that where
the one name is mentioned in Scripture the other
is not.
BAR-TIMEUS. Son of Timeus : from Bar, son ; and
Thamam, finished. We have hishistory, and a very
interesting history it is, Mark x. 46, &c.
BARUCH. Son of Neriah. An interesting cha-
BE 83
racter, as related to us in the prophecy of Jeremiah,
(ch. xxxii. 36. 43. 45.) His name is derived from
Barach, to bless.
B ASHAN. A most rich and fruitful country. It lay
beyond Jordan ; and before Israel's conquest, it was
possessed by Og. The sacred writers continually
speak of the fertility of this land. The name seems
expressive of it, Beth, in ; Shen, the very mouth or
tooth.
BATH. A measure among- the Hebrews, of the same
dimensions as the ephah, which contained seven
gallons and four pints, liquid measure ; and three
pecks, three pints, dry measure. (Isa. v. 10. Ezek.
xlv. 10, 11.)
BATH-SHEBA. The wife of Uriah. Her history
we have 2 Sam. xi, &c. If from Shaboh, which is
the number seven ; probably as Bath, is daughter,
the name means, the seventh daughter.
BEELZEBUB. See Baalzebub.
BEE R-L A-H A I-RO I . The margin of our old En-
glish Bibles hath rendered this compound word by
" The well of Him that liveth and seeth me." (Gen.
xvi. 14.) The history which gave rise to this name
beinggivento this well,is most beautiful and interest-
ing. I entreat the reader to turn to it. His atten-
tion will be well rewarded. (Gen. xvi. I to 14.) It
was Hagar, the handmaid of Sarai, which gave this
name to the well, when she fled from her mistress,
and was found by the angel of the Lord near a foun-
tain of water in the wilderness of Shur. There is
somewhat uncommonly striking in the history. I ad-
mire the faith of this poor servant. And I beg to
adore the Lord still more, in both giving her that
faith, and affording so blessed an opportunity for
the exercise of it.
That Hagar should have her steps directed into
this wilderness — that there she should find a well of
g2
84
water, already prepared to her hands, when we know
how rare and precious wells were considered in the
Eastern world; what pains men took to dig them; and
what strife for possessing them they occasioned ; —
that there the Lord should manifest himself to her,
and give her such gracious promises : — these are so
many distinct tokens of divine love. And how bless-
edly did the Lord, that led Hagar there, and pre-
sent before her such testimonies of his watchful care
over all, give her grace also, to eye the Lord's hand
in the Lord's appointment. Hagar perceived the
Lord's grace in all. And she discovered his mercy
towards her in all: so that, under the full impres-
sion of a full heart, she cried out, "Thou, God, seest
me."
I cannot dismiss the subject before that 1 have first
requested the reader to ask himself, whether, when
at any time in the wilderness frames of his own
heart, or under the wilderness dispensations the
Lord hath brought him into, he hath not often found
a well of seasonable and unexpected supplies, like
that of Hagar, so that he could call itBeer-la-hai-roi ?
How very often hath it been found, yea, it may al-
ways be found, in the believer's exercises, that where
we least expected, there most of Jesus hath been dis-
covered. That precious Redeemer, always before-
hand with his people, and going before them in all
his providences, as well as in all his grace, hath been
at length manifested to the soul, in the close of some
trying dispensation, as having been all the while
present, appointing all, regulating all, watching over
all, and giving a sweet and precious finish in his
sanctifying blessing on the providence to all; though
to our timid and un watchful hearts, lie hath been sup-
posed by us as absent, and inattentive to our dis-
tress. How truly blessed is it, like Hagar, when
the seasoned relief, like the well at Shur, opens
85
with such manifestations of the Lord's love, as to
display, at the same time, the Lord's hand. The
sanctified use of every blessing1 then calls forth the
same cry, as Sarah's handmaid, from the soul, "Thou,
God, seest me. For she said, Have I also looked
after him that (first) looked after me ?" (1 John
iv. 19.)
BEER-ELI M. We meet with this name, Isa. xv. 8.
But it is more than probable, that it is the name of
the well so sweetly spoken of Num. xxi. 16 — 18.
I beg the reader to consult the Scripture, and let
him judge for himself, whether it be not so. Beer-
elim, means, the well of- the princes. And the
princes are said to have digged it. But when the
reader hath satisfied his mind on this point, there
is another object, and that of an higher nature, that
I would request the reader to attend to. In those
wells, I humbly conceive, we discover gospel les-
sons beautifully represented. Hence, the prophet
sings," Because God (saith he) is my salvation, there-
fore, with joy shall ye draw water out of those wells
of salvation." (Isa. xii. 2, 3.) And hence, if, with an
eye to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself, in the
souls of all his redeemed, a well of water springing
up unto everlasting life, (John iv. 14.) we accept
those Beer-elim in the word, we then join the Lord's
song, in the Lord's own words, as he directed Moses.
This is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses,
" Gather the people together, and I will give them
water." Then Israel sang this song. " Spring up, O
well ! sing ye unto it. The princes digged the well ;
the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction
of the lawgiver with their staves." (Num. xxi.
16—18.)
BEER-SHEBA. The well of an oath ; so called, be-
cause here it was that Abraham made a covenant
with Abimelech. (Gen. xxvi. 33.) The word
86
B E
is a compound of Beer, well ; and Shabah, swearing.
BEGGING. I could not prevail upon myself to pass
over this word, though it be perfectly well under-
stood, and is not frequently found in Scripture : yet,
it appears to me, that as the Word of God hath
made ample provision, not only in precept, but in the
very constitution and frame of the human heart, for
beggars, it is our duty to attend to it. (Ps. xxxvii. 25.
Mark x. 46.) It should seem, by the precept
delivered by Moses, that the Lord thereby intimat-
ed that there should be no poor unrelieved among
them, in that the Lord had so greatly blessed Israel,
that Israel would prevent the necessity of begging;
though, for the exercises of their brotherly love, the
poor should never cease out of the land. (Deut. xv.
4. 7. 11.) I recommend the reader to consult this
whole chapter, from whence he will form better
ideas concerning the mind of the Lord on the cha-
racter of the beggar, and his own gracious and all-
wise appointments of the inequalities of life. And
when he hath done this, I would recommend him yet
farther to consider the whole subject spiritually, and
with an eye to Christ. The brother waxen poor was
to be relieved by the nearest of kin ; and when he had
sold his possession, this brother, born for adver-
sity, was to redeem it. (Lev. xxv. 25.) Here Jesus,
the nearest of kin, was plainly seen. And there-
fore, the beggar in Israel had always a claim upon
every passer-by, who considered duly this relation-
ship. And may I not ask, was not this among the
gracious designs of the Lord, in his providence, to
afford luxuries to the minds of believers, in the true
Israel of God, when, from the inequalities of life,
the Lord afforded opportunity to follow the steps
of Jesus, in relieving a poor brother? How little
have those studied the Scriptures of God, and how
little do they know of the mind of Jesus, who, to the
87
numberless miseries of life, arising out of that sin
which Christ hath put away, can, and do pass by,
and behold, unpitied,and unrelieved, the wretched-
ness of the beggar, whether in soul or body !
BEGOTTEN. I detain the reader at this word, be-
cause of its importance. Not in respect to the real
meaning of the word itself, either in a natural or
spiritual sense, for both are generally understood,
but for an higher purpose. It is easy to apprehend
what is meant by the term begotten, in natural ge-
neration among men. (SeeMatt. i.2,&c.) And we no
less understand the scriptural meaning of spiritual
generation, in application wholly to God. They
who are new born in Christ, are expressly said to be
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. (John i. 13.) But the
meaning of the word begotten, when applied to the
person of Christ, differs wholly from both these
and (according to my apprehension of the scriptural
sense of the word) is perfectly another thing. I beg
to explain myself upon it.
If we look at the several Scriptures which speak
ofChrist being begotten, we find the word connected
at different places with different terms. Sometimes,
Christ is said to be the first begotten, and at other
times, the only begotten of the Father. (See Heb. i. 6.
Rev. i. 5. John i. 14. 18 ; iii. 16. 18. 1 John iv. 9.
Ps. ii.7.) And some have supposed, that these ex-
pressions refer to the eternal generation of the Son
of God as God. But with all possible respect to the
judgment of those men, I venture to believe that
those phrases have no reference whatever to that
subject. The eternal generation of the Son of God
as God, is declared in Scripture as a most blessed
reality ; and as such, forms an express article of our
faith. But as God the Holy Ghost hath not thought
proper to explain it, in any part of his revealed word,
88
it becomes an article of faith only, and here the
subject rests. We are not called upon to say, how
that eternal generation is formed, any more than we
are to tell how Jehovah exists, or how that exist-
ence is carried on in an unity of substance, while
distinct in a threefold character of person. Our
capacities are, at present, incompetent to form any
adequate conception, and perhaps, even in our fu-
ture state, they never may be able.
But in relation to the Son of God, as the first begot-
ten and the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth, if those terms are confined to the per-
son of the Lord Jesus in his character and office
as Mediator, here all difficulty vanisheth to the pro-
per apprehension of our mind; and under divine
teaching, we are not only brought to the full convic-
tion of the glorious truth itself, but to the full enjoy-
ment of it, in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ in his
mediatorial character, God and man in one person,
the Head of union with 1 is people, and the Head
of communication also to his people, for grace here
and glory for ever.
In this sense, Christ is the first begotten and the
only begotten of the Father before all worlds. In
this sense, that sweet passage in the Psalms is
explained, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begot-
ten thee." (Ps. ii. 7.) Begotten; that is, when in the
decree concerning redemption, the Father predesti-
nated the Son unto the being and office of the God-
man Mediator. And this day means^ when in the
covenant transactions, the Lord Jesus stood up the
Head of his church, at the call of God the Father.
Had this begetting referred to the eternal genera-
tion of the Son of God as God, how could it be call-
ed this day? Eternity is never spoken of as a day
in Scripture. For when the Holy Ghost would de-
scribe the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus Christ,
he speaks of him in the past, present, and future ;
89
w Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and
for ever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) And hence, when describ-
ing also the eternal and everlasting- nature and es-
sence of him, the high and holy One, who inhabiteth
eternity, the Holy Ghost saith, " from everlasting to
everlasting thou art God." (Ps xc. 2.) Everlasting,
in the language of Scripture, is without beginning
and without ending. So that in the eternal gene-
ration of the Son of God, as the Father is eternal
and everlasting in his personal character as Father,
so must the Son be eternal and everlasting in his
personal character as Son. If there had been a
period in eternity when the Son of God was not
the Son, in that same period the Father would not
have been the Father ; for both, in the very nature
of things, in the constitution of each character,
must have been equally existing together. Hence,
therefore, (according to my view of things) nothing
can be plainer than that in those expressions of the
first begotten and only begotten of the Father,
there is not the least reference to the eternal gene-
ration of the Son of God ; but those, and the like
terms of Scripture, respect only the person of the
Lord Jesus in his character and office of Mediator.
In farther confirmation of this doctrine, I beg the
reader to turn to the forty-second chapter of Isaiah
1 to 9, compared with Matt. xii. 17, &c. the sixty-
first chapter of Isaiah, 1 to 3, compared with Luke
iv. 16 to 22 ; and yet as particularly as either, the
forty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, 16, 17 : in which the
Lord Jesus, under the Spirit of prophecy, describes
his commission as Mediator both from the Father
and the Holy Ghost, ages before his incarnation,
and the consequent execution of his office as Re-
deemer to his church and people.
I hope that I have explained myself in the clear-
est manner, in order to render my meaning perfectly
00
intelligible to the humblest capacity. And if so,
and my view of this sublime subject is agreeable
to the unerring word of the holy Scripture, and if
the reader's apprehension of this doctrine corres-
ponds with mine, he will find (what I bless the Lord
I have found,) much sweetness in such precious view s
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The distinction is, in
my apprehension, highly important in the exercises
of faith, between the eternal generation of the Son
of God as God, and the Son of God as Mediator,
begotten to the office and character of Mediator.
The distinction is essential, that we may not con-
found things, and thereby lessen our proper con-
ception of the Son of God, " one with the Father
over all, God blessed for ever." And it is no less
most blessed and interesting to behold the Son of
God thus begotten of the Father, the God-man
Mediator, when, for the gracious purposes of sal-
vation, he stood up in his covenant character, that
he might be both the head of union and of fulness
for communication to his people in grace, and in
glory, for ever.
I beg the reader to pause over a subject so infi-
nitely sublime, and so infinitely consolatory. And
I beg of him farther to pause and remark with me,
the wonderful grace manifested to creatures, such
as we are, in the Lord's giving such blessed mani-
festations of himself. Instead of being astonished
that we know no more, the only astonishment is,
that we know so much. Great must be the com-
municated influence of the Holy Ghost to our
poor fallen nature, to enable us to grasp any thing
relating to the Godhead, in his threefold character
of person, in this our fallen state. By and by, we
are promised that we shall know, even as we are
known ; that is, as far as our spiritual faculties,
ripened into perfection, are capable of advancing.
B E
But here below, we are only, in our highest attain-
ments, in the twilight of knowledge, and our best
discoveries are but as seeing "through a glass
darkly." See Generation.
Before I depart from the contemplation of this
sublime subject as it refers to the person of God's
dear Son, I would beg to drop a short observation
on what I humbly conceive to be a misapplication
of the term begotten, as is sometimes made in
reference to man. I mean, when ministers them-
selves, or others for them, are said to have begot-
ten souls to Christ by the instrumentality of their
preaching. It is more than probable, that the first
idea of such a thing took its rise from what the
apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. iv. 15.)
I have begotten you through the gospel. And in
like manner, concerning Onesimus, the apostle
saith, Whom I have begotten in my bonds. (Epistle
to Philemon, ver. 10.) But whatever the apostle
meant by the expression, certain it is, that the act
of the new creation, as the act of the old, is wholly
of the Lord. And uniformly in Scripture,' the act
of begetting is altogether ascribed to the Lord.
(See 1 Pet. i. 3. 1 John v. 1. 18.) And, perhaps
it would be no difficult matter to shew, that the
apostle did not mean what some have supposed,
that when he used those expressions, he considered
himself as their spiritual father. The very term
sounds haughtily, and not scripturally ; Paul himself
would hardly have joined such words together, in
application to one he thought the chief of sinners.
But even admitting the contrary, supposing it be
granted, that this inspired apostle used the term in
relation to himself, what warrant would this be for
the use of it among ordinary ministers ? If it be
said, that it is only meant to imply their instrumen-
tality, I answer, that the term spiritual father is
92
BE
still unsuitable and unbecoming-. There is no
warrant in the word of God for such an appella-
tion. And when it is farther considered, how
much it tends to minister to spiritual pride, it is a
very plain proof it cometh not of the Lord. I
shudder to think to what lengths this misapplication
of the words begetting souls to Christ, and spiri-
tual fathers, have hurried men, when I have heard
it hath been said from the pulpit, or committed
to the press, that such preachers, at the last day,
will have to say, * Behold I, and the children whicli
the Lord hath given me ! " Words which can be-
long to none but the Lord Jesus Christ, and never
were intended to be used, or can with truth be
used, by any other. (Isa. viii. 18. Heb. ii. 13.)
BEHOLD. This word is so often used in the word of
God, that I do not think it unimportant to have a
place in our Concordance. Sometimes, it is in-
tended as a note of attention, by way of calling
the notice of the reader in a more striking manner ;
and yet more eminently so, when the Lord himself
is the speaker. Thus for example, the Lord Jeho-
vah calls upon the church to regard with all possi-
ble attention, the person and character of his dear
Son. " Behold, (saith Jehovah) my servant whom
I uphold," &c. (Isa. xlii. 1. Zech. iii. 8. Mai. iii. L)
Sometimes, the word is used as a note of admira-
tion, as when Jesus speaks of the loveliness of his
church, (Song i. 15.) or when the angels announced
the birth of Christ. (Jsa. vii. 14.) It is sometimes
used to express joy and gladness, as when Jesus
calls upon his church to behold him, " Behold me !
behold me ! " (Isa. Ixv. L Matt. xxi. 5. John
xii. 15.) And sometimes the word is used by way
of confirmation to the word spoken. Thus the
Lord to Jacob at Bethel, " Behold, I am with thee,
and I will keep thee," &c. (Gen. xxviii. 15.)
92
BELIAL. This is an Hebrew word, signifying some-
what evil. Hence, in Scripture, it is not unfre-
quently applied to wicked persons. Moses, when
charging Israel not to follow vain and ungodly
men, calls them sons of Belial. (Deut. xiii. 13.)
The same by Hannah. (1 Sam. i. 16.) So Abigail
to David. (1 Sam. xxv. 25.) In the language of
the New Testament, Belial is another name for
Satan. u What concord (saith Paul) hath Christ
with Belial?" (2 Cor. vi. 15.)
BELIEVE or BELIEF. Perhaps, nothing is more
simple than the act of believing ; and yet, per-
haps, nothing which hath created more mistakes
and misapprehensions. In common life, we all
perfectly understand what it is to believe one
another : it is only in relation to our belief in God,
that we find it difficult. If the servant of some
kind and generous master was promised by him a
favour, which he knew his master could perform,
he would think it a base impeachment of his mas-
ter's character for any one to call the promise in
question. But when the same kind of reasoning is
brought forward concerning God, we overlook the
impeachment of the Lord's veracity, in doubting
the assurance of what God hath promised. Now,
to apply this to the case in point. God hath pro-
mised to the church eternal life ; and this life is
in his Son. To believe this on the simple word
and authority of God, this is to give God the cre-
dit of God; and in doing this, we do in fact no
more than the servant, as before stated, does to
his kind master. The greatness of the promise,
and the undeservedness of our hearts ; these
things have nothing to do in the business. It is the
greatness, and honour, and credit of the Promiser,
which becomes the only consideration with faith.
And to take God at his word, and to trust in his
94
BE
promise as God ; this is the whole sum and substance
of believing-. So that the simple act of faith, after
all, is the simplest thing- upon earth ; for it is only
believing "the record which God hath given of his
Son." (1 John v. 10.)
BELOVED. We ought not to pass over this expres-
sion, though the word itself is so generally under-
stood. There is somewhat in it so truly blessed,
when we consider it in relation to Christ, as the
Christ of God ; and also, in relation to the church,
considered from her union with Christ, and inter-
est in Christ, that the word beloved, when spoken
of either, comes home to the affection peculiarly
sweet and endeared. To refer to all the passages
of Scripture, in which Christ is declared beloved,
would be very many indeed. It will be fully suffi-
cient to all the present purposes intended, to re-
mark, that in all the parts of the divine word, at
every place, and upon every occasion, when God
the Father is represented as speaking of his dear
Son, or to him, he expresseth himself with the
greatest rapture and delight. He calls him his
elect, his chosen, his only beloved, his dear Son ;
as if he would have every individual member of
his church, (and which is indeed the case) to fall in
love with him. And what I would beg the reader
particularly to remark with me on this occasion is,
that this love of the Father to the Son is specially
spoken of in Scripture, not with reference to his
divine nature, but in his mediatorial character. It
would have been of no profit to us, (for the sub-
ject is above our faculties of apprehension) to have
been told of the love of the Father to the Son, in
the nature and essence of the Godhead. How the
divine persons love each other in the infinity and
eternity of their nature, none but themselves in
their eternal nature can have any conceptions con-
cerning. But the love of God, yea, all the persons
of the Godhead to the person of Christ, as God-
man Mediator; this is a subject concerning which
we find somewhat for the mind to lean upon ; and,
under divine teaching-, can make dicovery sufficient
to create a joy from it, " unspeakable and full of
glory." What a rapturous thought to the soul is
it, that our Jesus is beloved of Jehovah, because
he undertook our cause, became our Surety, lived
for us as such, and died tor us as such, and is now
carrying on the one glorious design for which he
became incarnate, in bringing " many sons unto
glory." The Lord Jesus speaks of his Father's
love to him on this very account. " Therefore,
(saith Jesus) doth my Father love me, because I
lay down my life that 1 might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself ;
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again. This commandment have I re-
ceived of my Father." (John x. 17, 18. See also
Isa. xlii. 21.)
And as Christ is thus beloved on the account
of his gracious office and undertaking as Media-
tor, so }s the church on his account, and for his
sake beloved also. He it is, indeed, that gives
this loveliness to his church, for there is nothing in
the church, or in the acts of the church, which can
be lovely, but on the Lord's account, and as be-
held and accepted in him. But as considered as
one with Christ, and made comely, from the come-
liness which Jesus hath imparted to her, and put
upon her, she is lovely in God the Father's view,
and beloved by Jehovah for ever. Yea, the Lord
Jesus not only calls her his beloved, and tells her
that she is all fair, and that there is no spot in her,
but he saith, in that sweet prayer he put up to the
Father, in the night before his sufferings and
96
BE
death, that " the Father loveth the church as the
Father loved him." (See John xvii. 23.)
BELSHAZZAR. King of Babylon. His history,
which is very awful, we have, (Dan. v.) His name
is compounded of Baal, lord ; and Otzer, treasure ;
intimating-, no doubt, his great riches and power.
See Mene.
BELTESHAZZAR. This name was given to Da-
niel by the Chaldeans in the time of the captivity.
(Dan. i. 7.) And no doubt, the design was evil ;
that he might in it lose sight both of his own name,
and with it the remembrance of the Lord God of
his fathers. And what a change it was ! Daniel,
a compound of Dan, judgment; and I, El, my
God: my judgment is with God, or God is my
judge. Whereas, Belteshazzar was a compound
of Bel, the idol which the Babylonians worshipped ;
and Shassar, from Etzar, to lay up. And as the
idol's name was derived from Bulat, secret, they
both together implied the laying up in secret
From Daniel's history, it should seem to convey the
idea, as though the name Belteshazzar was given
to him in compliment, on account of his great wis-
dom ; but there can be but little question, that the
great object was, that he might, in time, forget the
Lord God of Israel, and be incorporated with
the Chaldeans. See Abednego.
BENHADAD. King of Syria; the son of Hadad.
(1 Kings xx. 1.)
BENJAMIN. The youngest son of Jacob, by Ra-
chel. The mother of Benjamin had expressed
her dissatisfaction in having no children. " Give
me children (said she in her displeasure) or else
1 die." It is said in the after pages of her history,
that God u remembered Rachel, and that God hear-
kened unto her and opened her womb ; and she
bare a son, and called his name Joseph ; " that is,
BE
97
as the margin of the Bible renders it, adding ; and
said/' the Lord shall add to me another son." (See
the interesting history, Gen. xxx. throughout.
See also Joseph.) After the birth of Joseph, Ra-
chel conceived again, and bore Benjamin, on
which occasion she died. Moses gives a very af-
fecting account of it, Gen. xxxv. 15 to 20. As
the soul of Rachel was departing from her body,
she named her child Ben-oni ; and the margin . of
our Bibles hath thought it proper to mark it with
some degree of emphasis ; the son of my sorrow,
from Ben, son ; and On, grief or burden ; and the
pronoun I, makes it personal, my sorrow. Poor
Rachel ! what a mistaken judgment she made !
She earnestly desired children ; but behold the
event ! God gave her a son ; but he was, as she
properly named him, a son of sorrow ; a Benoni.
How many Rachels have there been since, who in
wresting or wishing to take the government out of
the Lord's hands, have done it to their sorrow !
Jacob, though his love to Rachel was un-
bounded, (see Gen. xxix. 18 — 20.) yet he would
not suffer the child to retain the name of Benoni,
but changed it to Benjamin, which is, the son of
my right hand, from Ben, son ; and jamin, the
right hand. And his love to Benjamin is much
recorded in the Scripture. Moses, the man of
God, viewing, most probably, Benjamin typically
in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, makes a beau-
tiful observation in his dying blessing, which he
gave to the tribes of Israel ; " And of Benjamin
he said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
safety by him ; and the Lord shall cover him all
the day long, and he shall dwell between his
shoulders." (Deut. xxxiii. 12.)
BERYL. See gold.
BETHANY. A place ever dear and memorable to
VOL. VI. H
98
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the followers of the Lord Jesus, from being so sa-
cred to the Lord's solemn moments of suffering.
Perhaps the name is compounded of Beth, an
house ; and hanah, affliction. It lay about fifteen
furlongs (nearly two of our miles) from Jerusalem,
at the foot of the mount of Olives. See John,
eleventh and twelfth chapters.
BETH-AVEN. It is the same place as Bethel.
But after Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made
Israel to sin, set up his golden calves there, the
pious among the Israelites called it Beth-aven ;
meaning, the house of iniquity ; for it was no longer
proper to call it Beth-el, the house of God.
(1 Rings xii. 26, to the end.)
BETH EL. This spot is rendered memorable, from
being the place where the visions of God began
with the patriarch Jacob. (Gen. xxviii. 19, &c.)
The name is Beth, the house ; El, of God. And
this name hath ever since been applied, by the
people of God, to the sacred ground where their
first interviews opened with the Lord. Believers
in Jesus have been accustomed to call the hallowed
spot of their first manifestations of God in Christ,
. and indeed, all their after visits from the Lord, as
Jacob's was, their Bethels ; for Jacob there saw the
gracious revelation of God in Christ, in the vision
manifested to him. (See Gen. xxviii. 12 to 17.)
And those are our first real views of God, when
we discover the riches and fulness of God's
glory, as manifested to poor sinners, in the person,
offices, and character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus the disciples, John i. 14. Thus Paul, Gal.
i. 15, 16. And all the holy men of old, who
saw the day of Christ afar off, rejoiced and were
glad ; made certain memorandums of the hallowed
ground, where the Lord thus revealed himself, to
bring to remembrance. Abraham's Jehovah Jireh,
B E
99
(Gen. xxii. 14.) and Gideon's Jehovah Shalom, in
Ophrah, are sweet proofs in this way. (Judges vi.
11 to 24.) And may I not hope, that both the
writer and reader of this short memorial do the
same, through grace, and can speak of their Be-
thels also ?
BETHER. We meet with this word only in the
Songs of Solomon. In the second Song, 17th
verse, the word is retained in its original, Bether ;
but in the eighth Song, 14th verse, it is translated
" mountains of spices." In the margin of the
Bible it is rendered division ; as if separating from
Christ. Some of the copies read the word Bethel ;
but it certainly is a different word, and of a dif-
ferent meaning. It hath been rendered very
sweet and gracious, I believe at times, to the fol-
lower of the Lord, when feeling the desires of
the soul going out in longings for the Lord Jesus.
So Old Testament saints sought the coming of
Christ, as upon the mountains of Bether, when in
the dark shade of Jewish ordinances they saw the
type and shadow of good things to come, and
longed for the substance. And so New Testa-
ment believers, who have once seen and tasted
that the Lord is gracious, are longing for renewed
visits of Jesus, when in seasons of distance, and
darkness, and unbelief, they feel as on the moun-
tains of Bether, waiting his coming. And how do
the best of saints, in the present day, and they who
enjoy most of the Redeemer's presence and grace,
still long for the full manifestation of his person,
and the coming of that great day, when he will come
" to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in
all that believe." (2 Thess. i. 10.) Say, reader,
doth not your heart go forth, as the church of old
did, (sure I am it must, if so be Christ is precious)
crying out with the same rapture, " Make haste.
H 2
LOO
B E
my beloved ; and until that everlasting day, break in
upon my redeemed soul, be thou like to a roe, or a
young hart, upon the mountains of Bether." (Song
ii. 17. Song viii. 14.)
BETHESDA. The word signifies, the house of
mercy; from Beth, an house; and Chesed, mercy.
It was the pool which the evangelist John speaks of,
John v. 2. I refer to the account. It is proba-
ble, that into this pool the waters from the temple
emptied themselves : and if so, all the washings of
the sacrifices. And some have been weak enough
to fancy, that the efficacy of the pool arose from
thence. And others, equally erroneous, have sup-
posed that some mineral quality might be in the
pool, from the waters imbibing it in passing over
certain strata of the kind, as the mineral waters of
Bath, and other places of the like nature. But had
they attended to what the Holy Ghost hath re-
corded, by his servant John, in the history of the
Bethesda, they would have observed, that the pe-
culiar miraculous quality the pool possessed, was
only at a certain season, and from the descent of
an angel into the pool ; and the miracle expressly
limited also to one person.
Some have raised questions of doubt concerning
the reality of the pool itself, because it is not
noticed by any of the evangelists but John. But
this, if admitted as an argument of doubt, would
go farther than the objectors perhaps intend ;
since the same cause of objection would equally
hold good against the pool of Siloam, the resur-
rection of Lazarus, several of the sweet and pre-
cious discourses of Christ, his miracle of Cana, at
Galilee, and very many other blessed relations
concerning the Lord Jesus, which are mentioned
by none of the other evangelists. But these are
childish objections, since we know that one among
101
the many causes for which the gospel according- to
St. John was added to the other memoirs of the
Lord Jesus Christ, was purposely to relate some
circumstances, which Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
had not done. (See John xx. 30, 31 ; xxi. 25.)
Some have expressed their surprise that Jose-
phus, the Jewish historian, should have been alto-
gether silent concerning the pool of Bethesda.
But not to remark that Josephus was not born at
the time the pool was in repute, the well-known
hatred he bore to every thing that had respect to
the person and glory of the Lord Jesus, might
well account for his not even glancing at the
Bethesda, which must have connected with it
Christ's miracle there ; rendered so memorable
as it was, from the cure he wrought, by speaking a
word, on the poor man, of a disease of thirty-
eight years standing. And surely, no one who
reads his history of Israel's Exodus, and their
passage through the Red Sea, can be astonished
that he should pass by all notice of the pool of
Bethesda.
It is truly blessed to the believer in Christ, that
his faith is not founded " in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God." The Holy Ghost hath
given his testimony to the many blessed truths in
his servant John's writings, and of consequence, to
the reality and certainty of this pool of Bethesda
among the rest. And I humbly conceive, that the
pool itself was specially intended, by the mercy of
the Lord, to be a standing miracle among his peo-
ple, during their dark estate from the departure
of the Spirit of prophecy, which ended with Mala-
chi, to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ ; as
if to shew, that the Lord u had not cast away his
people whom he foreknew." Here, therefore,
was a direction to wait for Christ. And as he
102
was " the fountain to be opened in that day, to the
house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jeru-
salem, for sin and for uncleanness," the pool of
Bethesda might shadow forth his coming'. So
that when the Lord came and wrought the miracle
on the poor man of long infirmity, without the
ministry of the pool, this might shew that the in-
tention for which this pool had been appointed
was now answered, and the substance being come,
the shadow ceased for ever. We hear no more of
the pool of Bethesda, after this miracle of Christ
in the cloisters of it ; and, as is supposed, the
efficacy of it was now no more.
I cannot take leave of the subject without first
desiring the reader to remark with me, the improve-
ment to be made of it. The Bethesdas of the
gospel we still have, in the several ordinances
and means of grace. But as then, it was the
descent of an angel into the pool which gave effi-
cacy to the waters, so now, it is by the coming of
our Lord Jesus, the almighty angel of the cove-
nant, into our midst, that any saving effect can be
derived from the purest ordinances, or forms of
worship. Where Jesus is not, there is no life-giv-
ing stream in any of the waters of ordinances. And
it should be remarked, moreover, that our Bethesdas
are not like this by the sheep market gate in Jeru-
salem. It is our mercy that the cure is not, as
that was, limited to one poor sufferer, and him the
first that came to it. But the gospel invitation in
Jesus, is to every one that thirsteth. And the
last is sometimes made first. And all that come,
the Lord himself saith, " he will in no wise cast
out." Yea, more than this still. Our Lord Jesus
doth not limit his grace to our Bethesdas, or ordi-
nances, but he worketh without them, (as in the
instance of the poor man at the Jewish Bethesda)
103
or with them, as seemeth best to his infinite wis-
dom, and for the display of his grace. Hail !
thon glorious Healer ! Jehovah Rophe of thy peo-
ple ! (Exod. xv. 26.)
BETHLEHEM. This was a city in Judah. (Josh,
xvii. 7.) The name means, house of bread ; from
Beth, house ; and lechem, or lehem bread. It was
beautifully significant of Christ, who was from ever-
lasting appointed to be born there, (Micah v. 2.)
and was, and is, and ever will be, the bread of life,
and i he living bread to his people ; of which who-
soever eateth shall live for ever ! Lord ! I would
say with the disciples, evermore give me this bread.
There was another Bethlehem in Zebuluu, though
it is but rarely spoken of in S.cripture. (Joshua
xix. 15.) But this Bethlehem must be ever dear
to every follower of Jesus. It was connected with
and formed part of Ephratah. Here Jacob buried
his beloved Rachel. (Gen. xxxv. 19, 20.) I would
have the reader compare what Micah saith con-
cerning this Bethlehem, with an eye to Christ, and
look at what Matthew hath observed also on the
subject. (Micah v. 2. Matt. ii. 1—6.) The Holy
Ghost evidently had Jesus in view in that sweet
history of Ruth, when the certain man, Eli-melech,
representing our whole nature, left Bethlehem the
land of bread, for the Moab of the world ; and
when with his children Mahlon and Chilion, sickness
and disease overtook him and all his posterity.
(Ruth i. 1.) David's cry for the waters of Beth-
lehem, (see 2 Sam. xxiii. 15 — 17.) hath always
been considered as typical of the soul's thirst for
Jesus, the bread of life.
BETH-PEOR. See Baal-peor. It was a city of
Moab. (Deut. iv. 46.) The house of opening ; from
Pahar, to open.
BETH-PHAGE. A well-known village, mentioned
104
in the gospel, (see Matt. xxi. 1.) It should seem
to be derived from Pep, opening-; and Geeah,
valley : the house of the valley. Probably, the
opening of the valley at the foot of the mount of
Olives. Here it was that Christ fulfilled that re-
markable prophecy of Zechariah. (Zech. ix. 9. with
Matt. xxi. 4,5. Markxi.l. Lukexix.28. Johnxii.14.)
BETH-SHEMESH. A city belonging to the priests
in the tribe of Judah. (Joshua xv. 10.) This place
is rendered remarkable from the slaughter the
Lord made on the men of Beth-shemesh for their
curiosity in looking into the ark. (See 1 Sam. vi. 19.)
An invasion by any into the priest's office hath been
always punished. (See Numb. iv. 5, 15, 20.) How
blessedly the Holy Ghost testifieth of Christ, that
he took not upon him the office of High Priest un-
called of Jehovah. A glorious consideration to
all his people. (Heb v. 4, 5.)
BETROTHING or BETROTHED. This engage-
ment among the Hebrews was made very sacred ;
and it was in general made early. They considered
it a breach of the divine command not to marry ;
and hence, the betrothing, or being betrothed,
was a ceremony long used before the marriage
was intended to be consummated : and, indeed,
sometimes there was a great lapse of time between
the one and the other.
I have thought it worth noticing, in a work of
this kind, purposely to observe, upon the act
itself, the gracious condescension of our God and
Saviour in adopting the term with respect to his
marriage with our nature. His was a long betroth-
ing, even before all worlds. But the marriage
was only consummated when, in the fulness of
time, he took our nature upon him, and became
the Husband and Head of his church. And what
a beautiful and graciou manner doth the Lord
105
Jesus make use of, in his usual way of unequalled
condescension and love, when speaking- of his
union with our nature, the complacency and de-
light he took in it, and the everlasting duration of
it, he saith, * And I will betroth thee unto me for
ever, yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness,
and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faith-
fulness, and thou shalt know the Lord." (Hos. ii.
19, 20.)
BEULAH. We meet with this word but once in the
Bible. (Tsa. lxii. 4.) It should seem to be derived
from Balak, or Baal-meon, lord of the house, or
married.
BEZER. One of the cities of refuge appointed for
the manslayer to flee unto, as provided. See
(Deut. iv. 41, &c.) It lay in the country of the
Reubenites, but became somewhat like a frontier
town, both to them, and to Edom and Moab ; being
near the borders of each. What makes it parti-
cularly meriting our attention is, that in the design
and appointment of it we see clear traces of its
being typical of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These cities of refuge were for the manslayer
to flee to for shelter. Now Christ is the only re-
fuge for the manslayer of the soul to flee unto ;
for every sinner is a soul-murderer : he hath slain
his own soul. And if fleeing to Christ when the
avenger of blood, that is, the law of God, and the
justice of God, is pursuing him, he takes shelter
in the Lord Jesus, the Bezer of his people, and
the city of refuge for security, before he be
overtaken, he is in safety for ever. All the days
his High Priest liveth no condemnation can fall
upon him ; and that is for ever !
That the appointment of those cities (which were
six in number,) had an eye to Christ cannot be
106
B E
doubted, because a provision for the manslayer, if
referring- only to temporal things, might have been
made in a much easier and more simple way. An
express law for the magistrate or priest to have
acted upon, in all cases of murder where there
was no malice prepense, would have been equally
easy in this case, as in every other. But when we
see six cities expressly set apart for this one pur-
pose only, and placed in certain situations conveni-
ent for the poor murderer to get most easily at;
when we read so much as is said concerning it,
and call to mind how much the Holy Ghost de-
lighted in shadowing forth Christ, under the Old
Testament Scripture, in type and figure ; and
when we observe, moreover, how very strikingly
the things here marked down in the city of refuge
point to the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot hesitate
to conclude, that it was thus, among a great variety
of other ways, Christ was preached to the people.
Christ, indeed, as a sanctuary, infinitely exceeds
the type represented by the city of refuge. For
though the manslayer, when entered within the
suburbs, could not be taken from thence, yet nei-
ther could he go abroad ; if he did, he died. But
in Jesus we are both made safe and free ; for u if
the Son hath made us free, we shall be free in-
deed." (John viii. 36.) Moreover, the manslayer
among the Jews had freedom only upon the death
of the high priest, but our great High Priest
giveth freedom both while we live on earth, and
hereafter in heaven ; and u he himself abideth a
priest for ever."
1 cannot forbear adding, what hath been always
considered, by pious believers, as a farther testi-
mony that these cities of refuge had an eye to
Christ, and were plainly typical, namely, that the
name given to each became expressive of some-
107
what significant in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bezer means a strong hold. And such is Christ.
Ramoth in Gilead, a place of eminency. And
Jehovah's testimony of Jesus is, that " he should
be exalted, and extolled, and be very high." (Isa.
lii. 13.) And Golan, in Bashan, carries with it the
idea of glory. And is there not joy and peace in be-
lieving when the soul abounds in hope, through the
power of the Holy Ghost ? Neither were the other
three cities appointed beyond Jordan by Joshua,
less striking, when considered in reference to
Christ. (Josh. xx. 7.) Kedish, holy. And who is
holy but Jesus ? Shechem, the shoulder. And
Christ's goverment is said to be upon his shoulder.
(Isa. ix. 6.) And Kirjatharba, or Hebron, the city
of fellowship. Into what sweet fellowship and
communion doth Jesus bring all his peope!
It is a very blessed addition to this merciful de-
sign of the Lord, that he so graciously appointed
the whole six cities of refuge to suit the different
situations of the people, that if they were central
in the place where the manslaughter was com-
mitted, or at the remote end of their town, at each
extremity there were avenues leading to the one
or other of the city of refuge. And it was a law
in Israel, we are told, that one day in every
year there were persons sent to repair the roads
leading to them, and to remove all stumbling-
blocks or stones, which might by time have fallen
in the way ; and to see also, that the posts of
direction, which were set up at every corner lead-
ing to the city, were carefully preserved, and the
name Miklat, (that is, refuge) legible upon them.
All these were so many express types of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our Zoar, (Gen. xix. 20, &c.)
our Bezer, (Ps. cxlv. 18.) our city of refuge to flee
to. And he is always near at hand. He is also, (as
108
the prophet described him) the repairer of the
breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. (Isa.
lviii. 12.) And every ordinance and means of grace
in the ministry of his word points, like the Miklat
of the Jews, unto Jesus, saying-, u This is the way,
walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand,
and when ye turn to the left." (Isa. xxx. 21.) Blessed
Jesus, be thou indeed, " the way, and the truth,
and the life ! " and surely, the wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein." (Isa. xxxv. 8.)
BIBLE. This name is given to the Word of God ;
and no one is at a loss to know what is meant by
it when we say, the Bible. But it is not, perhaps,
so generally known wherefore the Sacred Scrip-
tures are called the Bible. This is the reason. —
The word Bible is taken from the Greek Biblos, or
book ; and it is called so by way of eminency and
distinction, as if there were no other book (and
which is, indeed, strictly and properly speaking,
the case) in the world. So then, by Bible is
meant the Book, the Book of God, the only Book
of God, including the holy Scriptures of the Old
and New Testament, and no other ; for these, and
these alone, are " able to make wise unto salvation,
through the faith which is in Christ Jesus." The
Hebrews call their Scriptures Mikra, which means,
lesson, instruction, or Scripture.
"When I said the Bible includes the holy Scrip-
tures of the Old and New Testaments, and no other,
I consider what is called the Apocrypha as not
included. The very name Apocrypha, (so called
by those who first placed those writings in- our
Bibles) which means hidden, or doubtful, implies as
much, for there is nothing which can be called
doubtful in the word of God.
Some pious minds, indeed, have gone farther,
and have ceased to call those writings apocryphal,
109
or doubtful, but have decidedly determined against
them, and from their own testimony shewn that
they are unscriptural and contrary to God's word.
And, indeed, if what they have brought forward
in proof be compared with the unalterable stand-
ard of God's own declarations in Scripture, with-
out doubt, they ought not to have place in our
Bibles.
It would by far exceed the limits I have laid
down for myself in this work, to enter deeply into
the subject by way of determining the matter.
One or two observations is all I shall offer ; leav-
ing the reader to frame his own judgment.
The Book of Ecclesiasticus, take it altogether,
is by far the best of the whole apocryphal writings.
In the prologue, or preface, the writer, or trans-
lator, begs pardon for any errors that he may
have fallen into in this service ; which at once im-
plies his opinion that he had no idea the author
wrote it under divine inspiration. In chap. iii.
ver. 20. he speaks of giving alms as an " atonement
for sins ;'' and chap. xxxv. ver. 3. he declares the
forsaking unrighteousness to be a propitiation.
Thus much may suffice without enlarging.
I cannot, however, take leave of the subject
without first quoting the words of Tertullian, who
lived in the second century. He speaks decid-
edly concerning the Apocrypha, and felt indignant
that it should ever have had a place in our Bibles.
u The prophet Malachi, (saith Tertullian) is the
bound or skirt of Judaism and Christianity. A
stake that tells us, that there promising ends, and
performing begins ; that prophecying concludes,
and fulfilling takes place. There is not a span
between those two plots of holy ground, the Old
and New Testament, for they touch each other.
To put the Apocrypha, therefore, between them,
110
is to separate Malachi and Matthew ; Law and
Gospel. It is to remove the land-mark of the
Scriptures, and to be guilty of that breach in
divorcing the marriage of the testaments, and
what God hath joined together for man to put
asunder."
Perhaps it may not be unacceptable to the
reader to subjoin, under this article of the Bible,
an account of the different copies of the sacred
volume which have been handed down in the
church through the several successive ages, for it
will serve to manifest the Lord's watchful care
over his own precious Word.
The first copy, called the Septuagint, in Greek,
so called from the seventy pious men devoted to
this service, was produced about two hundred and
forty years before the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, including all the sacred books, as we now
have them, from Genesis to Malachi.
The second copy consisted of the Old Testament,
from Hebrew into Greek by a Jew named Aquila,
being converted to the Christian faith, in the time
of the Emperor Adrian.
The third translation was about fifty-three years
after the former. And to this succeeded a fourth,
under the Emperor Severus. Eight years after this,
another translation appeared by an unknown hand ;
and this was called the fifth translation. Afterwards
Hieronymus translated it out of the Hebrew into the
Latin tongue ; this is what is called the sixth copy.
And this is what is used in the Latin language to
this day. Our first English translation was that of
Myles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, bearing date
1535, and dedicated to King Henry the Eighth.
BLASPHEMY. I think it proper to stop at this word,
as the sense and meaning of it is not so generally
understood as it were to be wished and many of
BL
ill
God's dear children, it is to be apprehended, have
their minds much exercised about it, fearing- they
have committed the unpardonable sin, in blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost. It will not be amiss, there-
fore, to make an humble enquiry concerning it,
looking up for the Lord the Spirit to be our Teacher.
The sin of blasphemy is peculiarly applied to
those who sin against God by profaning his holy
name, and speaking lightly and wantonly of his per-
son, prefections, and attributes. The law under
Moses's dispensation punished such crimes with
death. (Lev. xxiv. 11. 16.)
This is what may be called blasphemy in general.
But added to this, our Lord speaks of a peculiar
branch of blasphemy against the person and work of
God the Holy Ghost, as being accompanied with
aggravated malignity, and in its nature unpardon-
able. But as if that none of his children might make a
mistake concerning it, w ith that tenderness and grace
which distinguished his character, the Lord Jesus
mercifully set forth in what the peculiar degree of
the sin consisted. He had been casting out devils,
and the Scribes and Pharisees, with their usaul ma-
lignity, ascribed those gracious acts to the agency
of the Evil Spirit. Hence, our Lord thus expressed
himself, "Verily, I say unto you, all sin shall be for-
given unto the sons of men, and blasphemies where-
with soever they should blaspheme. But he that
should blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."
And then it is added, as an explanation of the
whole, and to shew in what the unpardonable sin
consisted, * because they said, he hath an unclean
spirit." (Mark iii. 28, Sec.) Here was the blasphemy,
in ascribing the works of Jesus, wrought evidently
by the Spirit of Jehovah, to the agency of Satan ;
this was blasphemy with a vengeance, and from its
112
peculiur malignity unpardonable. And who are the
persons that commit it? Surely, not they who
desire to love Jesus,, and to feel the gracious influ-
ences of the Holy Ghost. Their distresses and
their fears are, lest they should come short of the
grace of God. They are too well convinced that
the Lord Jesus wrought all his miracles by his own
almighty power, even to call it in question; so that
in this sense, it is impossible for them to commit this
unpardonable sin. They would shudder even to
hear such blasphemy from the lips of others ; and how
then should it come from their own?
Who then were the persons to whom the Lord
Jesus alluded when he thus expressed himself ?
Most evidently and plainly, the Scribes and Phari-
sees then before him. They had charged Christ
with having an evil spirit, by whose influeuce he
wrought miracles, and hence Jesus declared the sin,
and shewed, at the same time, that it was totally
unpardonable.
And what confirmed it more, and manifested that
they were given up to a reprobate mind, was, that
hardness and insensibility both of their sin and their
danger. Here is another sweet and precious testi-
mony to the timid and fearful child of God, if he
would but attend to it as it really is. Your very
softness of heart proves the reverse of those obdurate
Pharisees. They had commited it, and were in-
sensible and unconcerned. Your sorrow and appre-
hension most decidedly manifest that you have not
so sinned, neither can have committed such an evil.
The very different state of the different characters
draws the line of distinction, and shews who are the
blasphemers of the Holy Ghost, and who are not.
The Lord be the teacher of his people !
BLESS. To bless in the language of Scripture,
hath many different significations. When spoken
I 13
of in reference to the Lord's blessing his people,
it means bestowing upon them his loving kindness,
and grace, and favour, as manifested in a way
of temporal, spiritual, or eternal blessings. But
when it is spoken of in respect to our blessing
the Lord, or blessing one another, it is evident
that the sense of it differs very widely. I cannot
omit mentioning, under this article, a peculiarity
concerning blessings in general, as they relate- to
the Lord's mercies in this way to his people,
and because I do not believe that the subject is
generally understood. All blessings are in Christ.
This is the bottom of all our mercies ; for where
Christ is not, there can be nothing truly blessed.
" Men shall be blessed in him." (Psal. lxxii. 17.)
But while the church are supposed to know this,
and to look for no blessings but in him, believers
do not so fully as they ought consider that Christ
himself is their blessedness. There is a nice dis-
tinction in this viewT of the subject. It is not
enough to see Christ's hand and Christ's blessing in
the mercy he bestows upon me, in order to make
that blessing sweet ; but Christ himself must be
the blessing to crown all. It is not enough that
Jesus gives me life and salvation ; but he himself
must be my life and salvation. So the Psalmist,
speaking in the person of Christ, saith of him, as
the head of his church and people, Psal. xxvii. 1.
And so the prophet also, speaking in the person of
his Lord, for the same purpose, Isa. xii. 2. And
so must all the church say concerning their glori-
ous Head. And hence, the psalmist, when at any
time speaking in the person of Christ, or of the
person of Christ, doth not simply say, Blessed is
the man (that is, the man Christ Jesus,) but, Bless-
edness is the man, using the word in the plural
number, to intimate all blessings in him. For
VOL. VI. I
114
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Christ is not a single blessing, but all ; and the
blessedness he gives, and is to his people, doth not
consist in one thing, but in all. I hope the reader
will understand my meaning. The first word of
the first, thirty-second, and forty-first psalms (to
mention no more,) which all speak of Christ, is on
this account in the plural, and all ascribe blessed-
ness to him for this express purpose.
BLINDNESS. The Scripture very frequently makes
use of this word, by way of expressing the blind-
ness of the soul while in an unawakened unrege-
nerate state. Persons of this description are said
to " have eyes, and see not ;" and " ears, and hear
not." And such, indeed, is the case of every man
by nature. They see not their own corruption ;
they have no apprehension of their want of Christ ;
they see no beauty in Christ. So awful a state is
this, that the Holy Ghost no less than seven times,
in his blessed word, speaks of it in the same strong
figures. (See Isa. vi. 9 ; Matt. xiii. 14 ; Mark iv. 12 ;
Luke viii. 10 ; John xii. 40 ; Acts, xxviii. 26 ; Rom.
xi. 8.) It is a blessed testimony that Jesus hath
opened our eyes to say, with the poor man at the
pool of Siloam, " One thing I know, that whereas
J was blind, now I see." (John ix. 25.)
BLOOD. Very important, in Scripture language, is
the mention made of blood. So much so, indeed,
that perhaps the perfect apprehension of it is not
known. From the beginning of the creation of God,
the Lord himself pointed to the blood as the life of
the creature. And in a peculiar and special manner,
the Lord intimated somewhat of an high nature in the
blood, when speaking to Cain concerning the blood
of his brother Abel, which he had shed ; the Lord
said, " What hast thou done ? the voice of thy bro-
ther's blood crieth unto me from the ground." In
the margin of the Bible, the word is rendered
B L
bloods, in the plural number. (Gen. iv. 10.) In
Deut. xii. 23, the prohibition of eating blood is
mentioned with peculiar emphasis, and the reason
assigned ; " because it is the life." And it is again
and again forbidden. There can be no question
but that much of the Lord Jesus, and his precious
blood-shedding, was veiled under it ; though the
subject is too mysterious to explain.
It is, no doubt, a wonderful dispensation from
beginning to end, that of redemption by the blood
of Christ. That blood should be an appointed laver
for uncleanness, so that, " without shedding of blood
there is no remission ;" and that "the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin," (1 John i. 7.) whereas
according to all our natural ideas of blood, it defiles.
Yea, the Lord himself, speaking of defilements in
his people Israel, he expresseth their uncleanness
under this figure: "Your hands are full of blood;"
and instantly adds, " wash you, make you clean : put
away the evil of your doings from before mine
eyes." (Isa. i. 15, 16.) But here we stop; the sub-
ject is mysterious, and beyond our scanty line of
knowledge to fathom. It is enough for us to know
that that blood which Christ shed, as a sacrifice
for sin, is, the only " fountain opened to the house of
David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and
for all uncleanness." In this the church on earth
are beheld clean ; and in this the church in heaven
are accepted before God, having "washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb." (Rev. vii. 14.) And hence, those strong
expressions we every where meet with in the Scrip-
ture, "of the blood of the covenant, the blood of
sprinkling, and the like." (Zech. ix. 11. Heb.
xii, 24.)
BLOT OUT. This expression is used in Scripture
both in a way of mercy and of judgment. The,
r 2
116
BO
Lord saith, that he hath so completely blotted out
the sins of his people, " that the iniquity of Israel
should be sought for, and there should be none ;
and the sins of Judah, and they should not be found."
(Jer. 1. 20.) And elsewhere, the Lord describes
the same thing, under the image of blotting out
the sins of his people as a cloud, and as a thick
cloud. (Isa. xlii. 25 ; xliv. 22.) In other parts of
scripture, blotting out is spoken of as an awful
judgment. (Deut. ix. 14; xxv. 19. Ps. lxix. 28.)
BOANERGES. The meaning of this name is ex-
plained to us, as given by Jesus himself, (Mark,
iii. 17.) " the Sons of thunder." Perhaps the word is
a compound, from Bini, son ; Regem, thunder, or
tempest ; intimating, perhaps, that those sons of
Zebedee would be powerful preachers under the
Lord.
BOAZ. The son of Salmon and Rahab, and the father
of Obed, by Ruth ; of whom, by descent, after the
flesh, sprung Christ. (See Matt. i. 5, 6.) I beg the
reader net to overlook the grace of the Lord Jesus
in this wonderful relation. Jesus will not only
take our nature for the purpose of redemption, but
he will take it from the lowest order of the people.
Rahab was an harlot of the city of Jericho, cursed
by Joshua, (chap vi . 26.) though famous for her faith
in the Lord God of Israel ; and Ruth a poor out-
cast of Moab. Both Gentiles, and yet brought
into the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was
it to shew the astonishing condescension of Jesus?
And was it not to shew also, that long before the
great events of redemption were to be accom-
plished, the Jew and Gentile church were both in
Christ ? (Gal. iii 28, 29.) See Harlot.
BOAZ. One of the pillars in the porch of Solomon's
temple, (I Kings vii. 21.) It was on the left hand,
as Jachin, the other pillar corresponding to it, was
11?
placed on the right. The names of both were
significant. Jachin means, he that strengthens and
makes steadfast. Boaz means, in it is strength
and firmness. No doubt, they both were figura-
tive of Him who condescends to call himself the
Door ; in whom, and by whom, unless an entrance
be made into the temple, the same is 8 a thief and a
robber." (John x. 1.9.)
We are told these pillars were eighteen cubits
high each of them, and twelve in circumference,
1 Kings vii. 15. And from their magnificence, they
formed no unapt resemblance of Him 8 who is the
pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Tim. iii. 15.)
BOCHIM. We meet with this name, Judges ii.l. 5.
It was given in consequence of the message of an
angel which caused the people to weep. Hence
Bochim means a place of weeping, or the weepers.
And so the margin of the Bible renders it. Some
make the word the plural of Baca, or Bocha, mul-
berry-tree ; and so it might be a place of mulberries,
and called Bochim, where the people received
tidings from the angel, and wept. See Baca ; see
Mourning; sej also Mulberry-tree.
BODY. In the language of Scripture, somewhat
more is meant than the mere animal life, when
speaking of the body. The whole church of Christ
is his body. And the Holy Ghost, by his servant
the apostle Paul, saith, " There is a natural body,
and there is a spiritual body." (1 Cor. xv. 44.) So
that the term is variously used.
But I should not have thought it necessary on this
account to have made any pause at the word body,
had it not been in reference to a subject of an in-
finitely higher nature ; I mean, in relation to the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wonderful
condescension of the Son of God in taking upon
him our nature, and assuming a body, such as ours,
118 B O
in all points like as we are, yet without sin ; makes
it a most interesting subject, and comes home re-
commended to our tenderest affections, that it is
impossible ever to pass by it, or to regard it with
coolness and indifference. I would beg the reader's
indulgence for a few moments on the occasion.
The Scripture account of this mysterious work
is not more marvellous than it is endearing. It
became necessary, it seems, in the accomplishment
of redemption, that the great and almighty Author
of it should be man, yea, perfect man, as well as
perfect God. The relation which God the Holy
Ghost hath given , concerning the Son of God becom-
ing incarnate, is said to the church in so many sweet
and blessed words, that the soul of the believer, rae-
thinks, would chime upon them for ever. u Where-
fore (he saith) in all things it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertain-
ing to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people." Hence, therefore, the Son of God
passed by the nature of angels, for an angel's nature
•would not have suited his purpose, nor ours. He
was to be in all points like those he redeemed, sin
only excepted ; and, therefore, a body he assumes
for the accomplishment of this great end. (See
Heb. ii. throughout, but particularly xiv. to the
end.)
This, therefore, being determined on in the
council of peace, that He who undertook to redeem
our nature, should partake of the same nature as
those he redeemed ; the next enquiry is, What
saith the Scripture concerning the Son of God re-
suming our nature, and how was it wrought ?
The Scriptures, with matchless grace and con
descension, have shewn this, and in a way, consi-
dering the dulness of our faculties in apprehension.
I 19
so plain and circumstantial, that under the blessed
Spirit teaching, the humblest follower of the Lord,
taught by the Holy Ghost, can clearly apprehend
the wonderful subject. Under the spirit of pro-
phecy, Jesus declared, ages before his incarnation,
Jehovah had provided a body for his assumption.
* Sacrifice and offering (said the Lord,) thou
wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me."
(See Ps. xl. 6. with Heb. x. 5, &c.) But how was
the Son of God to assume this body ? The Holy
Ghost takes up the blessed subject, and by his
servant the Evangelist Luke, records the whole par-
ticulars of a conference which took place between
an angel and a Virgin called Mary, whose womb,
by his miraculous impregnation, and without the in-
tervention of a human father, was to bring forth
this glorious Holy One, as the great Saviour of
his people. The Holy Ghost (said the angel to
Mary,) " shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also
that Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall
be called the Son of God." T beg the reader to
turn to the wonderful account, and read the whole.
(Luke. i. 26 — 53.) And I would farther beg him to
turn to the Scriptures of the prophets, who, with
one voice, pointed to this great event in all their
ministrations, (Isa. vii. 14 ; ix. 6. Micah. v. 2.) And
when the reader hath gone over all these Scrip-
tures of the Old Testament, I request him to finish
the enquiry, in reading the history of the facts them-
selves, as the\ are recorded in the New, and bless
God for his grace and condescension in bringing
the church acquainted with such an event, in the
interest of which our present and everlasting hap-
piness is so intimately concerned.
In speaking, therefore, or having a right con,
ception of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ ; this
120
B O'
is the point of view in which the Scriptures of God
teach us to regard that holy body. The Son of
God as God, assuming this holy thing, so expressly
called by the angel, underived from our fallen na-
ture, and as to any shadow of imperfection, uncon-
nected with it ; becomes a suited Saviour for all
the purposes of redemption, and being by this
sacred and mysterious union, God and man in one
person, formed one Christ : he, and he only, be-
comes the proper Redeemer and Mediator, the
God-man Christ Jesus. And hence the plain and
obvious meaning of all these Scriptures. God in
Christ. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-
head bodily." (2 Cor. v. 19. Col. ii. 9. 1 Tim.
iii. 16. John i. 14 ; xvii. throughout.)
I must not enlarge. Neither ought I to dismiss
the subject without first adding, to what I have
said, one observation more ; that by virtue of this
union of our nature with the Son of God, his
church is brought into an intimate union and one-
ness with him. And while we are taught to behold
Christ as taking upon him our nature, we are no
less taught, to consider every regenerated believer
as a K member of his body, his flesh, and his
bones." (Eph. v. 23 to the end.) And it is a
matter of holy joy and rapture, never to be lost
sight of by the humblest and poorest of his re-
deemed people, that the hand of God the Father
is in all these glorious concerns, " who gave his
dear Son to be the Head over all things to the
church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all." (Eph. i. 22, 23.) See Mary.
BONDAGE. This is a word in Scripture of strong
meaning. It is not unfrequently made use of for
the whole of spiritual slavery, in those who are
under a covenant of works. They are said to be
in bondage to sin, to Satan, to their own con-
121
sciences, to the law of God, to the justice of God,
to the fear of death, and eternal judgment. Where-
as, those that are brought into the liberty of the
gospel, are said to be delivered " from the bon-
dage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the
sons of God." Hence the Lord Jesus, in allusion
to this blessed change, saith, (John viii. 36 :) " If
the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in-
deed." The Holy Ghost by his servant the apostle
Paul, (Gal. iv. 22. to the end,) hath exemplified
both these doctrines in a beautiful allegory, in
the instances of Sarah and Hagar.
BOOK. See Bible. And in addition to what is
there said, J would beg to remark, that the
Hebrews had several names for distinguishing
their several books ; such as " the book of
the covenant," (Exod. xxiv. 7. 2 Kings xxiii.
21. ) "the book of the law." (Deut. xxx. 10. and
xxxi. 26.) Their general term for a book was
Sepher. In the New Testament, we read of " the
book of life." (Phil. iv. 3. Rev. xx. 12.) It is
our happiness to have all that it behoves us to know,
concerning the book of life, in the copy of it of
the Bible, which becomes indeed, in the procla-
mation of grace it contains, " the book of life."
Here we find the characters of those whose names
are written in heaven fully drawn out, and they
altogether correspond to those for whom Jehovah
gave Christ as a covenant. (See Isa. xlii. 6, 7.
Luke iv. 18. See also Dan. vii. 10. and xii. 1.
Rev. v. 1—3. Psal. ii. 7.)
BORROW. We do not meet with this word very
often in Scripture, nevertheless, seldom as it is
used, it is not always used in the same sense. From
that memorable passage in Scripture, Exod. iii.
22, where the Lord commanded Moses, that the
people should borrow of their neighbours, on their
122
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departure from Egypt, jewels of gold and of silver,
the idea hath arisen in many minds, that as the
things then borrowed were never afterwards re-
turned, there was intended, and committed, a real
fraud. But it is to be observed, that the word
borrow, from the same root, is differently rendered
in the case of Hannah, when asking the Lord for
a son. Had the root been regarded in her instance,
from whence the word Hannah used it, and from
whence it was taken, it would have been, she bor-
rowed of the Lord a son. Whereas, there it is render-
ed she called his name Samuel, which (as the margin
of the Bible renders it,) is asked of God ; "for she
said, I have asked him of God." (1 Sam. i. 20.) Now,
here we find the word, though the same, from the same
root is not to borrow, but to beg as a favour. And
the subject is farther explained in the twenty-seventh
and twenth-eighth verses of the same chapter. For
when she brought Samuel to the temple, she tells
Eli, for this child (said she) I prayed, and the
Lord K hath given me my petition which I asked of
him;" therefore also, I have lent him to the Lord;
as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord.
In the margin it is, I have returned him, whom I
have received by petition, to the Lord ; or, he
whom I have received by petition shall be return-
ed. Hence, therefore, the original word is not, in
the strict sense of it, to borrow as a loan ; but
may be rendered, to ask or request, or beg and
crave. And so I find the verb, or root, rendered
in Mr. Parkhurst's Lexicon, page 656.
I have thought it proper, in a work of this kind,
to notice the above. But l beg that it may be consi-
dered, at the same time, that if the word be still
accepted, as our translators have rendered it, to bor-
row, Exod. iii. 22, there will not attach to it
the least matter of fraud. Let it be remembered,
that when the children of Israel, under the first
123
Pharaoh, went down into Egypt, they were com-
manded by the king- not " to regard their stuff ; for
the good of all the land of Egypt was to be theirs."
(Gen. xlv. 16 — 20.) But it appears from their
history, that when Jacob and his family went down
to sojourn in "Egypt, they took their cattle and
their goods with them." (Gen. xlvi. 1 — 7.) It be-
comes an important question in the subject, to ask,
What became of this property, improved and in-
creased, as we may reasonably suppose it to have
been, when another king arose, who knew not
Joseph ? Moreover, we are told, that the children,
when in bondage, built treasure cities for Pharaoh,
Exod. i. 8. And what wages did the tyrant give
them for those labours ? We are told, indeed, that
they made their lives bitter to them with their
cruel bondage ; "and that they cast out their chil-
dren, to the end they might not live." (Acts vii. 19.)
When, therefore, the Lord had turned their tables
upon them, and by the plagues upon Pharaoh, and
all his people, had made a way for the Exodus of
his chosen, no doubt, under the remorse of their
minds, and their sorrow of heart, the Egyptians
were glad to part with the Israelites at any rate,
and therefore lent them, or gave them such things
as they asked.
I only beg lo add, under this view of the subject,
that as the tabernacle in the wilderness was after-
wards adorned with the gold and silver the Israel-
ites brought with them from Egypt, it is plain, that
the Lord approved of the conduct of his servants
in asking from their neighbours such things as they
needed, and as the Lord himself had commanded.
(Exod. iii. 21, 22.)
And might there not be somewhat typical in the
thing itself, in reference to the future call (as was
all along intended) of the Gentile church ? I beg
124 BO
the reader to read that sweet passag-e of the pro-
phet Isaiah, chap. xix. from 18th verse to the end ;
and see the rich promises of the call of Egypt with
Assyria, when the Lord shall set up the New Tes-
tament altar, even the Lord Jesus Christ, in the
midst of the land of Egypt ; and five cities shall
speak the language of Canaan, even the gospel
language of salvation by the blood and righteous-
ness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would ask, Is
not that day, yea, that very day, at hand? Hath
not the Lord, even now, been planting ihe gospel
in Egypt? Hath not our God, when working by ter-
rible things in righteousness, as he doth in the pre-
sent awful war, caused even the Musselmen and in-
habitants of Egypt ta look on the congregations and
prayer meetings of some of our pious soldiers who
have been there ? The writer of this hath himself
received testimony to this striking providence of
our God from a faithful soldier of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as well as a faithful servant of his king and
country, who was there, and an eye-witness to such
characters looking in upon them, when he and a few
of his devout comrades met together to read the
Scriptures,and pray, and sing praises to the Lord.
And who shall say what eventual blessed conse-
quences may arise out of it? Who knows, but from
this may spring up, as from a grain of mustard seed,
a glorious harvest to our God ? Oh ! for that happy
period when, according to this sweet prophecy,
" the Lord of hosts himself shall bless, saying, Bles-
sed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my
hand, and Israel mine inheritance."
BOTTLE. Before the invention of glass, bottles
were made, for the most part, of skins. It is pro-
per to keep this in remembrance when reading the
Bible, both of the Old Testament and of the New ;
for the knowledge and use of glass is of modern
BO
125
date. Hence, when it is said, (Gen. xxi. 14.) that
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took
bread and a bottle ol* water, and gave it unto Hagar,
putting it on her shoulder, we may suppose, that
this was not only a large skin for a bottle, but as it
was put on her shoulder, it was somewhat cumber-
some and heavy.
When the men of Gibeon acted wisely with
Joshua, as if coming from a far country, we are told,
that they not only produced their bread mouldy, but
their bottles rent, and patched together, which they
said, were new when they left their own country.
Bottles rent would be useless if made of glass. (Josh,
ix. 4, &c.) Modern travellers relate that, even now,
large skins of oxen are made use of for contain-
ing liquor ; though vessels made of earth are also
known. But for large quantities, they tell us, that
still the skins of beasts are in use.
In the days of our Lord, it is certain that stone,
as well as earthen vessels, were known, for we read
of such at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. (John
ii. 6.) But skins were also used ; for the Lord speaks
of using caution, not to put new (fermenting) wine
into old dried bottles. (Matt. ix. 17.) A beautiful
figure this, of the precious wine of the gospel,
which must not be put into the old skin of our
dried nature, but into the new heart of grace.
Both must be new, and both are then preserved.
(Rev. xxi. 5. 2 Cor. v. 17.)
BOW. The bow, in Scripture language, meaneth
much more than the instrument called the bow,
used in war. Hence, the dying patriarch, when
blessing Joseph, speaks of " his bow abiding in
strength, because his arms were made strong by
the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence
(said the patriarch), is the shepherd the stone of
Israel. " (Gen. xlix. 24.) And the Redeemer himself
126
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is represented as having " a bow, when a crown was
given unto him, and he went forth conquering and
to conquer." (Rev. vi. 2.) And there can be no
doubt, but that the bow mentioned by the dying
patriarch referred to Christ. Hence, in allusion to
the same, Jehovah saith, u I do set my bow in the
cloud." (Gen. ix. 13.) And hence John, when he saw
heaven opened, beheld u a rainbow round about
the throne." (Rev. iv. 3.) And the mighty angel
he saw " clothed with a cloud, had a rainbow upon
his head." (Rev. x. 1.) It is blessed to view Jesus
thus constantly typified.
BOWELS. I should not have thought it necessary
to have offered a single observation on this word,
considered in the general acceptation of it, for
every one cannot but know its obvious meaning.
But it may be proper, notwithstanding, to observe,
that as in its literal sense, the bowels mean the
entrails, so when used figuratively, it refers to the
heart and the affections. Hence, it is said of the
patriarch Joseph, that at beholding his brother, u his
bowels did yearn upon him." (Gen. xliii. 30.) And
the Lord himself is represented as expressing his
tenderness for Ephraim under the same similitude ;
" Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child?
for since I spake against him, 1 do earnestly remem-
ber him still ; therefore, my bowels are troubled
for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, saith
the Lord." (Jer. xxxi. 20.)
But when the word is spoken in reference to the
person of Christ in his human nature, here it is
not figuratively used, but literally ; and the mean-
ing of it is uncommonly blessed and sweet. If the
reader will turn to the fortieth Psalm, and eighth
verse, he will find Jesus thus speaking by the spirit
of prophecy, "1 delight to do thy will, O my God !
yea, thy law is within my heart." The margin of the
127
Bible renders it, within my bowels, meaning, that
so perfectly holy and pure was the human nature of
Christ, that the law of his Father was incorporated
in his very being ; an inwrought holiness mixed up
and becoming his person and his existence. What
a precious blessed view doth it afford of the Lord
Jesus !
And what I beg the reader also particularly to re-
mark, this purity, this holiness of the Lord Jesus
in our nature, is, to all intents and purposes, that
holiness in which Jehovah beholds his church in
Jesus. This, I believe, is not so generally under-
stood nor considered by the faithful as it ought ;
but it is what the Scriptures of God, in every
part, warrant. Jesus becoming our Surety is
expressly said to have been made both sin and a
curse for his redeemed, that " they might be made
the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. v. 21.
Gal. iii. 13.) And what a blessedness is there
contained in this one view of the completeness of the
church in Jesus ? So that, in the very moment
that the child of God feels the workings of cor-
ruption within him, and is groaning under a body
of sin and death, which he carries about with him,
though he sees nothing in himself but sin and im-
perfection, yea, sometimes, as it appears to him,
growing imperfections, yet looking to the Lord
Jesus as his Surety, and considering the Redeem-
er's holiness, and not any thing in himself, as the
standard of justification, here he rests his well-
founded hope. This was blessedly set forth by
the Holy Ghost : (Isa. xlv. 24.) * Surely, shall one
say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength ;
even to him shall men come, and all that are in-
censed against him shall be ashamed."
BRANCH. From the vast importance of this word
in Scripture, as it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ,
128
it is marked by the prophet Zechariah in capitals.
It seems, therefore, to demand our more particular
attention. We find Christ spoken of, under the
spirit of prophecy, by the Lord Jehovah, in this
character by three of the prophets, Isaiah, Jere-
miah, and Zechariah. It will be profitable for the
reader to consult the several pas-sages. (Isa. iv. 2.
and xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. and xxxiii. 15. Zech.
iii. 8. and vi. 12.) The word Branch in the original
is Netzer, which signifies, a city of plants. And
to shew the correspondence to Christ, the Netzer,
or Nazareth, where Jesus dwelt, was named from
the same root. (See Matt. ii. 23.) The parallel
passage in Zechariah, chap. vi. 12. is to the same
effect. Ezekiel, in allusion to the Lord Jesus,
speaks of him under the similitude of the plants,
like Nazareth, but describes him " as a plant of
renown." (Ezek. xxxiv. 24 — 29.)
BRASS. This word is sometimes used figuratively,
to express power, durableness, and hardness.
Thus in relation to Christ, John saith, when he saw
him in that glorious vision, (Rev. i. 15.) " his feet
were like unto fine brass, as if burning in a fur-
nace ;" denoting the glory and everlasting nature
of his person and kingdom. We read also of
mountains of brass in reference to the everlasting
establishment of Jehovah's purposes, Zech. vi. 1.
Sometimes the word brass is made use of to set
forth the impudence of hardened sinners ; u Thy
neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." (Isa.
xlviii. 4.) And sometimes the Lord gives some
sweet and precious promises to his people under
this figure, " Arise, and thresh, O daughter of
Zion ! for I will make thine horn iron, and I will
make thy hoofs brass." (Micah iv. 13.)
BREAD. Sometimes bread is spoken of in Scrip-
ture in the common acceptation of it, as the staff of
129
natural life, but more frequently it is used in figure,
by way of allusion to the Lord Jesus and the
spiritual life in him. Jesus calls himself "the liv-
ing- bread, and the bread of God ;" to intimate,
that as the natural man is sustained day by day,
and life kept up and preserved by receiving the
common bread for the body, so the spiritual life in
Jesus is wholly supported by communications from
Jesus, and life in Jesus. " Whosoever eateth of
him shall live for ever." (John vi. 32 — 58.)
The shew bread of the Old Tesatment was
typical of Christ. It consisted of twelve loaves
made without leaven, to intimate that there is no-
thing leavened in Christ. The shew bread was
placed new upon the golden altar. Christ is
our New Testament altar; and all offerings must
be offered upon the golden altar of his mediatorial
nature. The shew bread was placed there every
Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath, and the rest
wherewith the Lord causeth " the weary to rest,
and their refreshing." (See Exod. xxv. 30. Isa.
xxviii. 12. Ps. cxvi. 7. Matt. xi. 28.) It may
not be improper to add, that the term shew bread
meant the bread of faces ; and, probably, it was so
called, because offered in the presence of the Lord,
and placed before him on the table. The Israelites
called all their loaves by the name of Huggath.
The unleavened bread of the passover, there is
particular mention made of it, Exod. xii. 8.
And concerning leavened bread, with which the
blood of the sacrifice was never to be offered, what
a beautiful type was this of the untainted, pure
offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.
No altar but that of earth, (because the earth is
the Lord's,) was to be made for offering. If but
a tool was lifted up upon the altar of earth, or
stone, the whole was polluted. (Exod. xxiii. 18.
VOL. VI. k
130
B R
Exod. xx. 24, 25.) And is it not the same now in
the believer's offerings in Jesus ? When in com-
memoration of the Lord's supper we partake of
the bread and wine, as tokens of the body and
blood of Christ, would it not be a pollution to
leaven this solemn service with any thing of ours ?
Is not Christ all and in all ?
BREASTPLATE. This was a part of the high
priest's dress, which he wore when performing his
office in the temple service. On this breastplate
were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of
Israel, and it was called, "the breastplate of judg-
ment." (Exod. xxviii. 15.) The design of it seems
to have been to typify the Lord Jesus Christ, the
great and almighty High Priest of his redeemed,
who going in before Jehovah, bears the names, and
persons, and concerns of all his people. Hence,
the church so vehemently desired the Lord that
she might be set * as a seal upon his heart, and a
seal upon his arm." The former the tenderest,
and the latter the strongest part in Jesus's affec-
tion. (Song viii. 6.) And hence, in allusion to
the same, the apostle exhorts the church to put
on " the breastplate of faith and love ;" meaning,
a steadfast looking unto Christ in the exercise of
those graces, by relying wholly on him for mercy
and salvation. (1 Thess. v. 8.)
BREATH. This word is sometimes made use of in
Scripture in allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For as the breath of the body is the life of the
body, so Christ is the breath or life of the soul.
Hence, the prophet Jeremiah, in reference to
Christ, saith, " the breath of our nostrils, the
Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits."
(Lam. iv. 20.) And hence, when the Lord Jesus,
after his resurrection, imparted to his disciples the
gracious influences of his Spirit, it is said, that
131
u he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost." (John xx. 22.)
BRETHREN and BROTHER. Holy Scripture
hath several distinct meanings for this term, and
of very different significations from each other.
To be of the same nature, or disposition, to be of
the same town, or country, or occupation in trade,
is sometimes made the cause for calling men bre-
thren. And in Scripture to be of the same stock,
or family, though not of the same parents, consti-
tutes a brother. Thus, as in the instance of our
Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh, James and Joses
were called the brethren of Christ, but in fact,
were not so, but only relations of that tribe to
which Jesus belonged. For Mary, the mother of
James and Joses, was the wife of Cleophas, and
not the Virgin Mary. (Matt, xxvii. 56. John xix.
25.) And sometimes the name of brother is used
to describe men of like character, in idleness, or
iniquity. Thus Solomon saith, " He that is sloth-
ful in his work, is brother to him that is a great
waster." (Prov. xviii. 9.)
But when the reader hath carefully marked the
application of the name brother to these and the like
characters, there is a view of the subject perfectly
foreign to every other, and above all, in which when
the name of brother is considered as applied to the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our relation-
ship in him, it forms the sweetest of all thoughts.
Hence the church, before Christ's open manifesta-
tion in the flesh, so passionately longed for his com-
ing. " O (said she) that thou wert as my brother that
sucked the breasts of my mother ! when I should
find thee without I would kiss thee ; yea, I should
not be despised." (Song viii. 1.) And, indeed, Jesus
in his human nature is the nearest and dearest of
all brothers; and in his person is centered a compre-
k 2
132
BR
hension of all relations. Brethren in Christ are all
brethren by the Father's side, for they have all one
father, "even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earlh is named." (Ephes. iii. 14, 15.) And they are
all brethren by the mother's side, for they have
all lain together in the same womb of the divine
counsels and purposes of Jehovah, and that from
all eternity. (Isa. xlix. L Tit. i. 2.) And they
are all brethren by Jesus's side himself, for he
is their elder brother, and the " first born among
many brethren." (Rom. viii. 29.) And they are "bone
of his bone, and flesh of his flesh." (Ephes. v. 20.)
I must beg the reader's attention a little farther
to a subject so infinitely interesting. Evident it is,
that from all eternity this relationship of Jesus with
our nature began, even before that nature of ours
was called into being. And hence, what we
read in the Old Testament Scripture of the Jewish
brother, and the precepts so frequently given of
regarding him, had a special reference to Jesus.
We lose the whole beauty of the Scripture if Christ
be not first beheld in this subject. As for example. — ■
When the law enjoined tenderness, and the relief
to the brother waxen poor, here we behold the law
of Jehovah, and Jesus the law fulfiller blessedly
obeying it among his brethren. " If thy brother be
waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his posses-
sion, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then
shall he redeem that which his brother sold." So
again, " If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen
into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him ;
yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that
he may live with thee." (Lev. xxv. 25 — 35.)
Who is the brother waxen poor, having fallen
into decay, and sold away some of his possession,
but our poor ruined nature ; ruined by the fall,
B R 133
and by sin, having- sold away our possession ?
And who is the brother to whom the precept is
given, and by whom it hath been fulfilled, and is
fulfilling, but the Lord Jesus Christ ? Who but him
could redeem our mortgaged inheritance ? Who
but him had a right so to do, as the nearest of all
kin, and the most compassionate of all relations?
And do observe in those gracious precepts how
blessedly provision is made, in this almighty Bro-
ther's odedience to this precept, for all the relations
of Jesus, both Jew and Gentile ; " Yea, (saith the
command of Jehovah,) though he be a stranger,
or a sojourner, that he may live with thee." Live
with Jesus ! what a precious consderation to my
poor heart in the moment of writing, who am by na-
ture a Gentile born, and at that time " an alien to the
commonwealth of Israel." (Ephes. ii. 11,12.) Blessed
for ever be the almighty Lawgiver for enjoining those
precepts ! And blessed for ever be the almighty
Law-fulfiller for his complete obedience to them !
And blessed for ever be the almighty Author of
Scripture for recording these things, and both bring-
ing my soul acquainted with them, and causing me
to believe them, to the divine glory and my souPsjoy !
And ought it not to be added, by way of rich
consolation to every believer's heart, that Jesus our
Brother is still carrying on the same blessed pur-
poses, and fulfilling the precept even now in hea-
ven? Jesus is still the Brother ; for though his state
is changed, yet not his nature. And amidst all
the decays and poverty of his poor brethren on
earth, Jesus is looking with the same compassion as
ever on them ; and they are authorized to look up
for every needed relief unto him. He must redeem,
yea, he hath in every individual instance of his peo-
ple redeemed their lost possession. He must * open
his hand wide to his poor and to his needy in the
134 BR
land." (Deut. xv. 7, 8.) He must bring every one of
them home to live with him ; for so the precept is.
All the poor brethren of Jesus form one great body,
of which Jesus is the Head. And surely, the Head
and members being one, ought to be, and certainly
will be, eternally united.
I cannot forego adding one sweet and interesting
thought more, byway of finishing our present view
of Jesus as our Brother; namely, that as Jesus
hath thus condescended to become our brother, we
ought to take great delight in looking up to him in
this tender character. Is it said, that he is not
ashamed to call us brethren ; and shall we be asham-
ed of the relationship? Are the great ones of the earth
in their carnal alliances, so proud to have their con-
nections known, which are but for a day, and that
a day of sin and vanity ; and shall we, that are bre-
thren to the Prince of the kings of the earth, and the
almighty Lord of heaven, feel no joy in such an
union, and which is to last for ever ?
1 do beg the reader to ponder well the soul-com-
forting subject, and to be more glad of it than of all
the riches and grandeur of the world. And I mention
this, the rather, because it is to be feared that some
of the Lord's hidden ones are not sensible of their
high birth, and relationship in Jesus; or at least, do
not make that use of it which they ought. Would any
man be shy of going to an earthly court if the king
of that court was his brother ? Nay, would he not
be often going there ; often telling of it to every
one around him ; and delighting to have it known
that he had access, at all times, to the person of
the king his brother, and might have whatever he
asked of him ? But what are these privileges, or
what great cause for taking pride and consequence
in these transitory dignities, compared to that real
unfading honour in a consciousness of not only com •
BR
133
ing to Jesus, the King- of kings, and Lord oflords, as
to a brother, but who hath made all his redeemed
kings and priests to God and the Father, and " they
shall reign with him for ever and ever !" (Rev. i. 6.
xxii. 5.)
Suffer me yet farther to add, that the Scriptures
of our God have made this subject of Christ's bro-
therhood, so peculiarly endearing to the church, that
the gracious design of our Lord Jesus, in the assum-
ing of our manhood, is not answered when his church
makes no use of it. Let the reader recollect that
this astonishing condescension of Christ is altoge-
ther personal. It was the Son of God alone, and not
either of the other persons of the Godhead which be>
came our Brother. For, although, all the glorious
persons of Jehovah took part in our redemption, yet
to neither can we look up as brother but to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And is not this personal love and grace
of Jesus intended to excite and call up personal af-
fections towards him? Doth he not seem thereby as
if to bid us approach him, in a peculiar manner, un-
der this sweet character ? Yea, doth he not say in
language similar to his illustrious type, the patriarch
Joseph, to his brethren, when under a conscious
sense of their crimes in having sold him for a slave
they feared to approach him ; doth notour Almighty
Joseph say to us, under all our tremblings, and
fears, and misgivings, in having nailed him to the
cross by our sins : " Come near to me 1 pray you, I
am Jesus your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt?"
(Gen xlv. 3, 4.) Oh ! thou glorious, gracious, all-
lovely, and all-loving Brother ! thou art a brother
indeed, born for adversity; a friend that loveth at
all times; one that sticketh closer than a brother.
Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise ; thine
hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies ; and all
thy Father's children shall bow down before thee.
(Gen. xlix. 8. )
136
BROOK. See Cedrou.
BRIDE. Thr, is a well known name in common life.
It is very highly endeared to our affection when
applied by Jesus himself to his church. If the
reader wishes to see some beautiful instances, in
which the whole church as one collective body is
called the Lamb's wife, I refer him to the Songs of
Solomon, and to the book of the Revelation at large.
(Rev. xxi. 2—9. John iii. 29. Isa. lxii. 3. 45.) See
Church, Spouse, Wife.
BRIDEGROOM. This, as a corresponding name to
the former, is frequently in the Scriptures applied to
Christ. John the Baptist beautifully describes Jesus
under this character, John iii, 28, &c. And Christ
himself, Matt. ix. 5. Mark ii. 19, 20. See Husband.
BURNT INCENSE. See Incense.
BURNT OFFERINGS. See Offerings.
BURIAL. We find the greatest attention paid by
the Hebrews, from the earliest ages, to the deposit-
ing of the remains of their friends in sepulchres.
Perhaps, in all the compass of language, and in all
the refinements of courts, there is nothing to be
found in history equal to the manners and address
of the patriarch Abraham, when standing up before
his people to ask a place for the burial of his be-
loved Sarah from the children of Heth.
Would men wish to behold a portrait of the most
unaffected dignity with politeness, they must look
for it in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, where,
I venture to say, is discovered every thing that can
be truly called elegant, dignified, and venerable in
the character of the great Father of the faithful.
Surely, the patriarch here appears the most ac-
complished and finished gentleman the world ever
beheld. In proof, I hope that I shall be par-
doned if I recite a few words from that interesting
chapter.
BU
137
"And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, the same is
Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham
came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and
spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger
and a sojourner with you ; give me a possession of a
burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead
out of my sight.
w And the children of Heth answered Abraham,
saying unto him, Hear us, my lord : thou art a mighty
prince among us : in the choice of our sepulchres bury
thy dead. None of us shall withhold from thee his
sepulchre, but that thou mightest bury thy dead.
And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the
people of the land, even to the children of Heth."
What a very interesting view doth this afford of
the conduct of Abraham on this occasion. And when
in the after conversation, the children of Heth pro-
posed giving the spot of ground the patriarch fixed
on for a sepulchre for his beloved Sarah, with what
grace and dignity did he decline it as a gift ; but
requested that he might have it by purchase. And
during the transaction of this buisness, we are told,
that Abraham again bowed down himself before the
people of the land.
Last offices to the dead were among the first in
the concern of the living. Probably, though it was
reserved for the gospel dispensation to bring life and
and immortality to light, yet among those who, like
Abraham, saw the day of Christ afar off, they were
not wholly untaught concerning the doctrine of the
resurrection in Jesus. But be this as it may, cer-
tain it is, that the greatest regard was had in the
burial of the dead among the early followers of
our Lord ; and to be without a burial place, was
considered among the severest calamities. Hence
Jacob, when a-dying, charged his children to bury
138
him with his fathers. " There (said he), they buried
Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there they buried
Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I buried
Leah." (Gen. xlix.29.) And hence, Joseph also gave
commandment "concerning his bones." (Gen. 1. 25.)
And it is spoken of in Scripture, by the Lord himself,
as the marked punishment of Ithoiakim,thathe should
have no burial place, but be cast forth as an ass
without the gates of Jerusalem. (Jer. xxii. 18, 19.)
And what is it now ? Believers in Jesus still feel
some degree of concern, that the ashes of their
friends may be deposited with decent solemnity in
the grave. And when we consider what the blessed
Scriptures have said, that the bodies of Christ's peo-
ple are the temples of the Holy Ghost, there seems
to be a manifest propriety, though void of all idle
parade and ostentation, to commit the remains of
those who die in the Lord to the bowels of the
earth, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection
to eternal life in him, and through him, and by him,
who is himself the resurrection and the life. How
blessedly the apostle Paul speaks on this subject,
under the influence of the Holy Ghost, in his epistle
to the church. " I would not (saith he) have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which
have no hope. For if we believe, that Jesus died,
and rose again, even so them also, which sleep in
Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,
shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain, shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet
C A
139
the Lord in the air ; and so shall we be ever with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with
these words." (I Thess. iv. 13, &c.)
CA
CAB. An Hebrew measure, containing about three
pints in wine measure, and two pints of corn mea-
sure. This serves to explain the miseries of the
famine in Samaria, when the fonrth part of a cab of
doves dung- sold for five pieces of silver. (2 Kings,
vi. 25.)
CABUL. So Hiram called the twenty cities So-
lomon gave him for his aid, in the materials he fur-
nished him with for the building of the temple.
(1 Kings ix. 13.) The word signifies, unpleasant.
Probably, it was one of those cities mentioned
Josh. xix. 27.
CAESAR. Perhaps the reader doth not know, or
recollect, that this name was used by all the Roman
Emperors, whatever their other name might be.
Thus Tiberius was the Emperor in the days of our
Lord. (See Luke iii. 1.) But our Lord only called
him Caesar. (See Matt. xxii. 21.) And Paul the
apostle, when compelled to appeal against the injus-
tice of Festus, said, I appeal unto Caesar ; whereas,
Nero was at that time the Emperor. (See Acts,
xxv. 10, 11.)
CiESAREA. There are two places of this name
spoken of in Scripture. Czesasrea Philippi, sup-
posed to have been built by Philip, no great dis-
tance from Zidon. This place is rendered memo-
rable in the gospel, from Jesus passing near the
coasts of it when Peter gave so blessed a testimony
to the Godhead of his master. See Matt. xvi. 13,&c
140
The other Caesarea was in Palestine. Here lived
Cornelius the Centurion. (Acts x.)
CAIN. The first born of Adam and Eve. His name
is derived form Hanah, to possess. Hence Cain
means, possession. And this agrees to Eve's name
of her son, for she said, I have gotten a man from
the Lord ; or as it might be read, the man (that is
the very one promised), from the Lord. (Gen. iv. 1.)
Alas ! how little did our poor mistaken mother
know, what miseries among thousands and millions
of her children would be induced, before He should
arise to do away the evil of her transgression, by
the sacrifice of himself ! See Abel.
CAINAN or KEMAN. There were two of this name
in the first ages of the world. Cainan, the son of
Enos, Gen. v. 9. and Cainan, the son of Arphaxad,
Luke iii. 36. His name is derived from Canah,
to possess. Hence Cainan means, possessor.
CAIAPHAS. A name and person, memorable in
Scripture from being overruled by God the Holy
Ghost to deliver a prophecy the very reverse of
his own wishes, and like another Balaam, to pro-
nounce good when he intended evil. (See John
xi. 49—52.)
C ALEB. Son of Jephunneh, of whom honorable tes-
timony is given, Num. xiii. 2. His name is some-
what singular, if it be derived, as it is supposed to be,
from Keleb, dog. But some suppose it is a com-
pound of Ke, and Lebab, the heart.
CALF. Golden calf, which it is said Aaron made,
Exod. xxxii. 1 — 4. It is remarkable, that though
it is expressly said, that this was but one idol, yet
the children of Israel addressed it as in the plural,
and said, * These are thy gods, O Israel !" Did the
Israelites, in direct defiance of the divine law, make
this idol to resemble, according to their gross
conceptions, the true God? Wherefore, do they
C A
141
otherwise call it gods ? Certainly, there is some-
what mysterious in it. Jeroboam, in his days,
made two calves. (See I Kings xii. 26 — 28.)
CALVARY. Ever memorable and dear to the be-
liever. It was near Jerusalem ; and, probably, long
before Christ, it was the place devoted, for the
execution of criminals. Here the meditation of the
follower of Jesus should frequently take wing, and
view in faith that wonderful mount, from whence
redemption came ! See Gethsemane and Golgotha.
CANA. In Galilee. A small village near Nazareth.
This place is rendered memorable in the gospel,
from being honoured with our Lord's presence at a
marriage, and first miracle that he wrought of turn-
ing water into wine. (John ii.)
CANAAN. The son of Ham, Noah's son. From
him sprang the Canaanites. (Gen. ix. 18.)
CANAAN. The land of promise ; the glory of all
lands. (Ezek. xx. 6.) So called, not only on ac-
count of its fertility and loveliness in point of situa-
tion, but more eminently in having the special
presence of the Lord and his ordinances. And as
the temple, and all the services of the temple, were
so many types of the Lord Jesus, Canaan might
well be called the land of promise, with an eye to
Him.
It is well worthy our observation, that while,
among all the early writers, both sacred and pro-
fane, the very blessed state of Palestine, or Canaan,
(for we may name it by either, extending both
sides the sacred river Jordan) as a country, is con-
tinually described; later travellers speak of it as
a poor, dry, and inhospitable place. Moses, and all
the patriarchs, Ezekiel, and all the prophets, are
full of the praises of Canaan, and all describe it as
a land " flowing with milk and honey. A land of
wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and
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pomegranates. A land of oil, olive and honey; of
brooks, and fountains, and depths, that spring out
of valleys and hills. " A land (said Moses) whose
very stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou
mayest dig brass." (See Deut. viii. 7 — 9, &c.
Ezek. xx. 6. 1 5.
And among profane historians of antiquity we find
the like testimonies to those of Holy Writ. He-
catasus, who lived at the time of Alexander the
Great, and who wrote in the reign of Ptolemy, des-
cribes Palestine as a most fruitful province. And
Pliny speaks of it in a degree of enthusiasm. Jor-
dan was to his view a beautiful river, and the banks
of it fruitful to an excess. He describes the palm
trees, and the balm of Judah, and the city of Jeru-
salem, as most lovely indeed !
Modern travellers, however, have given a very
different account. The provinces are said by most
of them to be barren and unfruitful, and Jerusalem
itself to be but a poor city. From these different
statements the pious reader will, without my sug-
gestion, feel his mind, I should hope, led to that
beautiful observation of the Psalmist, and indeed,
to the whole of the many blessed things to the
same amount, as are said in that Psalm ; " A fruitful
land the Lord turneth into barrenness, for the
wickedness of them that dwell therein." (Ps. cvii. 43.)
CANDLESTIC. See Golden Candlestics.
CAPERNAUM. A well known place in the gospel
of Christ, where the Lord Jesus principally abode
during his ministry. It was on the borders of Gene.
sareth. The awful woe which Christ denounced
upon the men of this city, in having seen his person,
but despised his doctrine, still hangs in equal, or
rather increased, terror, over all the Christ de-
spisers of every generation. (Matt. xi. 23.)
CAPTAIN. We meet this title in one passage of
143
the word of God, and but one, as far as my me-
mory charge ih me, applied to the Lord Jesus
Christ ; and that is in the second chapter of He-
brews, and the tenth verse. And very sweetly
and eminently so, must we consider the name in
reference to him. For he it was, most probably,
that Joshua saw in vision, long before his incarna-
tion, before the walls of Jericho, as captain of the
Lord's host, and before whom Joshua fell on his face.
(Josh. v. 13. — 15.) It is very blessed to see and
know the Lord Jesus under this character, and to
fight under his banner.
CARMEL. There are two different places of this
name in Scripture ; Mount Carmel, near the brook
Kishon ; and Carmel, a city of Judah, where Nabal
dwelt. Some read it Carmul, as if composed of
Kar, lamb ; and Mul, circumcised. But others,
with more probability of being right, render it
Carmel, vineyard, or harvest ; as being full of vines
and corn.
CEDAR TREE. The cedar tree of Lebanon, forms
an interesting object in holy Scripture, and merits
attention. The tree itself seems, for majesty and
beauty, to take place of every other among the
trees of the forest. Its branches are wide and
spreading. They begin to form themselves nearly
from the ground, and stretch forth on each side.
The tree itself is an evergreen, and sheds forth a
gummy substance, which is said to contain many
salutary qualities. The wood of it formed a part in
the service of the cleansing of the leper. (See Lev.
xiv. 4.) One of the kings of Israel called himself
by the name of the Cedar of Lebanon, 2 Kings
xiv. 9. The church, or Christ for the church,
when celebrating the beauties and glories of their
habitation, compares the beams of it to cedar. (Song,
i 17.) And the state of individual believers in the
144
church is more than once spoken of, as resembled
by the flourishing- nature of the cedar of Lebanon.
(Ps. xcii. 12—16; civ. 16.) The Hebrews called
it Tashur, which the Septuagint rendered cedar.
There is somewhat very interesting in such repre-
sentations of the Lord's inheritance, when by figure
and similitude we are sent, by God the Holy Ghost,
to the loveliest objects in nature to form our views
of the Lord's pleasure and delight, which he taketh
in his people. Taught by such an infallible Teacher
methinks I would never read of the Cedar of Le-
banon, without connecting with it some sweet resem-
blance to be discovered in his people, which he saith
himself are the branch of his planting, and which
are so, that they might be called trees of righeous-
ness, "the planting of the Lord, that he might be glo-
rified." (Isa. lx. 21 ; lxi. 3.) And if Jesus himself,
be in the view of Jehovah, and in his church's view,
"the plant of renown," (Ezek. xxxiv. 29.) surely, it is
blessed to know, that the church is in Jesus's view.,
the Cedar of Lebanon. And in how many ways do
they bear resemblance to the glory of Lebanon,
when made comely, from the comliness Jesus puts
upon them ! Is there any tree of the wood so grace-
ful, or so lovely, as the Cedar of Lebanon ? Nei-
ther is there any lily among the thorns so fair, and
white, and fragrant, as Jesus's love is among the
daughters. (Song ii. 2.) Do any trees out-top the
Cedar of Lebanon, spread wider, or cast their
branches with more luxuriancy farther than this
fair one ? Neither do any grow more upright,
extend their usefulness in equal direction for gene-
ral good, as the disciples of the Lord. For though
they are poor and mean in man's opinion, yet do
they stand high in the esteem of Christ Jesus ; and
in the grace of the Lord, like the branches of the
cedar, they spread forth, by faith, in everv direction,
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and by rich experience in the divine life, manifest
forth the loveliness of their high calling all around.
And as the Cedar of Lebanon is deep-rooted, ever-
green, and ever-fragrant, so believers in Christ are
deep-rooted in him, always flourishing in him, how-
ever unprofitable in themselves; and as the prophet
describes the church, " their branches shall spread,
and their beauty be as the olive tree, and their smell
like Lebanon." (Hos. xiv. 6.) Such, and many
more of the like nature, open to our view, while
considering the church in Jesus's esteem, as the
Cedar of Lebanon. (See a lovely account of this,
Ps. xcii. 13—15.)
CEDRON or KIDRON. So called from Kedar, black,
dark, gloomy. This was the memorable brook
over which the great Redeemer passed, to enter
the garden of Gethsemane, the night before his
sufferings and death. Here, indeed, Jesus often
walked, for he loved the sacred haunts of that hal-
lowed ground, where he knew his last agony, in the
conflicts with Satan, was to take place. (John xviii.
1, 2.) The brook itself lay in a valley to the east
of the city, between Jerusalem and the mount of
Olives ; and it emptied itself in the dead Sea.
Into this black and foul brook ran all the filth,
of the sacrifices from the temple ; and most pro-
bably, like other sinks, for the most part, what
was conveyed thither from the temple remained
stagnant until the swelling rain carried off the con-
tents. This was the ever to be remembered
brook Cedron, concerning which it wa9 prophesied
of the Lord Jesus, a thousand years before his in-
carnation, that u he should drink of the brook in
the way." (Ps. ex. 7.) Some, in reading that
Scripture, and connecting with it in the mind, the
hot country of Palestine, might conceive it to have
been a pleasant thing to a dry thirsty traveller to
VOL. VI. L
140
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drink of the brook in his way. And no doubt, of
all earthly delights, the cooling streams in a sultry
desert is the most grateful. But Cedron" was no
cooling, limpid, pure stream ; but dark, and black,
and filthy. When Jesus, therefore, is said to drink
of it, the meaning is, that all our uncleannness was
put on him. Here Jesus passed through all that
torrent of divine wrath against sin, when " he that
knew no sin, became sin and a curse for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in
him." (2 Cor. v. 21.) Here it was, that all the
waves and billows of Jehovah's just anger, for his
broken law, went over the head of Christ, as the
Surety and Representative of his people ; and
which brought forth those cries of the Glory-man
Christ Jesus, which, by the Spirit of prophecy, was
recorded of him. (Ps. xxii. and lxix.) Such was
Cedron. And this brook was rendered memorable
in allusion to Christ, when David, as a type of
Jesus, passed it in his ascent to the mount of
Olives, when fleeing from his kingdom with his
followers barefoot, his head covered, and weeping,
and sorrowing, at the instance of Absalom, his
unnatural son. (2 Sam. xv. 30.) Thus Jesus
passed Cedron under the deepest of all possible
sorrows, when, with his few faithful disciples, he
entered the garden from the foul conspiracy of
Judas, and the high priest, and elders of his peo-
ple. And God the Holy Ghost was graciously
pleased to make'Cedron again memorable, as typi-
cal of the Lord Jesus Christ, when Asa, Hezekiah,
and Josiah, burnt and destroyed the idols of the
land, and cast the accursed things of the groves
into this brook. As if to shew, by type, that the
brook Jesus, in after ages, was to drink of, should
be the common receiver of all our idols, and all
our uncleanness, when, by his gracious under-
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145
taking-, that blessed promise of a covenant God in
Christ was to be fulfilled : " Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols." (Ezek.
xxxvi. 25. See also 2 Chron. xv. 16; xxx. 14.
and 2 Kings xxiii. 4 — 6.) Such then was, and is,
Cedron. Oh ! the blessedness of beholding- it
thus explained to us by God the Holy Ghost, in
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ ! Here would
my soul take frequent wing-, and by faith, alight
near the hallowed spot. And if Jesus oftimes
resorted thither with his disciples, here, methinks,
would my soul delight to roam, and see the place,
and the memorable brook Jesus drank of by the
way. See Gethsemane.
CENTURION, This is a word often met with in
the gospel ; and the meaning is, that the man who
was a Centurion, commanded, or governed, an
hundred soldiers.
CERTAIN. The word certain, when applied to man,
hath a very special and particular meaning. It is
not unlike, for importance, the phrase of a man
of God, to distinguish from a man of the world ;
or the natural man, to distinguish from the spiritual
and the inward man of the heart, to denote some-
what from that which is merely outward. So, in
like manner, when in Scripture, at any time, it is
said, a certain man, there is somewhat striking affix-
ed to the expression ; such as in that instance, when
it is said, a certain man drew a bow at a venture,
and smote the king, (1 Kings xxii. 34.) the meaning
is, the arrow was directed by the Lord. So again,
when it is said in the gospel, a certain man had two
sons, (Luke xv. 11.) a certain man had a fig tree
planted in his vineyard, (Luke xiii. 6.) a certain man
made a great supper, and bade many, (Luke xiv. 6.)
all these, and the like, directly refer to the Lord.
l 2
14s
So again, when it is said, (as in Ruth, chap, i.) a
certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the
country of Moab. And again, in the gospel, (Luke
x. 30.) a certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves. Both these cases,
as well as others of a similar kind, are designed to
represent our nature universally. All men, from our
first father, have left Bethlehem-judah, the land of
bread, for so the name means ; and Jerusalem, the
holy city ; and by going down to the Moabs and
the Jerichos of the world, have fallen among
thieves, and been left more than half dead by the
great enemy of souls.
CHAFF. In the general sense of the word, chaff
is the husk of wheat ; in itself useless, and only
intended to form a covering for the pure seed.
But in Scripture language, it is used figuratively,
to denote the uselessness and folly of a name to live,
while virtually dead before God. Hence the Lord,
speaking of the preciousness of his word to that
of the invention of men, thus expresseth himself:
" What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord ? "
(Jer. xxiii. 28.) And the sacred writers, under the
same Almighty authority, describe the wicked as
chaff, which the wind scattereth, and the storm
carrieth away ; and which the Lord will bum up in
the end, with unquenchable fire. (See Job xxi. 18.
Ps. i. 4. Hos. xiii. 3. Matt. iii. 12.)
CHAIN and CHAINS. In Scripture those expres-
sions are frequently made use of to denote the
constraining love of Christ. Thus Christ speaks
of his church ; (Song i. 10 ; iv. 9.) and again, by
way of shewing Christ's property in his church,
" I put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chain on
thy neck." (Ezek. xvi. 11.) And Paul, the apostle,
delighted to call himself the Lord's prisoner.
l( For the hope of Israel (said he,) I am bound
with this chain." (Acts xxviii. 20.) u Be not thou,
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149
therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner." (2 Tim. i. 8.)
CHALDEA. See Babylon.
CHAMBER and CHAMBERS. These words we
meet in Scripture upon various occasions. We
read of" the chambers of the south," in relation to
the heavenly bodies. (Job ix. 9.) "The upper
chambers " of Solomon's temple, respecting the
services and ordinances ; (2 Chron. iii. 9.) and
the inner chambers of the Old Testament ; and the
guest-chamber of the New. (2 Kings ix. 2. Mark
xiv. 14.) But the sweetest sense of the word
chambers, in Scripture language, is in reference
to those endearing views of Jesus, when he brings
his church into the chambers of his grace, to make
himself known unto them, otherwise than he doeth
unto the world. Thus the church saith, (Song i. 4.)
" The King hath brought me into his chambers."
Probably, it might mean into the knowledge of
the covenant of redemption, the doctrines of his
gospel, which Jesus calls " the mysteries of his
kingdom," and of which he saith to his disciples,
" It is given unto you to know, but to others in para-
bles." (JVlatt.xiii. 10, 11.) But still more, perhaps,
by chambers is meant, the sweet and intimate com-
munion into which Jesus brings his people, and of
which no eye sees, no heart is privy, but him to
whom the Lord gives that bread in secret.
And it should seem, that this is the chief sense
of the word, because it was the custom among
the Jews, to unfold the secrets of their religion in
this way. Hence, the guest-chamber, where Christ
held his last supper, was of this kind. And the
same, where the disciples met after our Lord's
resurrection, for fear of the Jews. Seen in this
point of view, we can discover a great beauty in
that lovely invitation by the prophet : " Come, my
160
people, enter thou into thy chambers." (Isa. xxvi.
20, 21.) What a gracious acknowledgment is this,
on the Lord's part, of being his people, when,
from having taken our nature, Jesus claims the
church for his own, and leads her, as the husband
the wife, into his chambers, unveils all his glories
to her, and gives her interest, and right, and
possession, of himself, and all that belongs to
him, as the great Head and Mediator of his body,
the church, " the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."
CHARIOT and CHARIOTS. The word is used re-
peatedly in Scripture, both as a real representation
of the thing itself, and also figuratively. Very ter-
rible were the war chariots, with which men fought
in battle. Jabin, king of Canaan, it is said, had nine
hundred chariots of iron, and mightily oppressed
the children of Israel. (Judges iv. 3.) But when the
term of chariot is applied to express spiritual things,
the matter becomes more interesting. Thus
Elijah's chariot, by which he went up into heaven,
is called, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen
thereof; by which is meant, the ascension of
Elijah's fervent prayers for Israel, were more pow-
erful and prevailing than all the chariots of Israel
in their defence. And doubtless, as the prophet in
this instance became a type of Christ, in his priestly
and regal office, the whole is abundantly plain and
evident. (2 Kings ii. 12.) So again, in the book of
the Songs, (chap. iii. 9.) Solomon is said to have
made a chariot of u the wood of Lebanon ; the pil-
lars of silver, the bottom of gold, the covering of
purple, and the midst thereof paved with love, for
the daughters of Jerusalem." There can be no
doubt, but that this is designed to speak of the
Lord Jesus Christ, whose chariot of love, founded
in himself, both in his Godhead and manhood,
whose acts of grace, are richer than gold and silver,
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151
and whose whole heart is full of love to his beloved
Jerusalem. Hence, the church in return, feeling-
all her affections awakened by grace, to the love
of Jesus, cries out in an holy rapture of joy and de-
light, " Or ever I was aware, my soul made ine like
the chariots of Ammi-nadib." (Song vi. 12.) See
Am mi-nadib.
CHEBAR. A river of Assyria, made memorable by
the church, when in the captivity of Babylon, be-
ing placed there. That beautiful, though pathetic
poem (as it may well be called of Hebrew poetry),
we have in the hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm,
is supposed to have been written on the banks o*
Chebar. (See Ezek. i. 1.)
CHERUB and CHERUBIM. We meet with an ac-
count of these so frequently in the word of God,
that it forms an important duty to seek, under the
Spirit's teaching, for the clearest apprehension of
their meaning. At the entrance of the garden of
Eden, after the fall, we find the cherubim and a
flaming sword placed. (Gen. iii. 24.) And during
the church's continuance in the wilderness, several
relations are made of the cherubim. (Exod. xxv. 18 ;
xxvi. 1 ; xxxvii. 7, 8.) Solomon's temple also,
was adorned with the representation of them.
(1 Kings vi. 23, &c.) But more particularly, in
the visional prophecy of Ezekiel. (See chapters
nine and ten throughout.) The general representa
tion of the cherubim was under the similitude of
four living creatures : the face of a man ; the face of
a lion ; the face of an ox, or calf ; and the face of an
eagle. That these figures were emblems of some-
what more important and higher than themselves,
hath been the universal opinion, both in the Jewish
and Christian church, through all ages. Some
have considered them as representing angels. But
there seems, in the first view of the subject, a total
152
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contradiction to this, because, no one reason upon
earth can be shown, why angels should be represent-
ed with four faces. Neither could there be any
necessity for any other representation of an angel,
but as an angel. We meet with continued in-
stances of angels appearing, in the word of God, to
God's people without any danger Of Jehovah him-
self only can it be said, u Thou canst not see my
face and live." (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) Moreover, be-
fore the cherubim was sprinkled, on the great day
of atonement, the blood of the sacrifice, which we
all know was typical of Christ, and represented the
one offering of the Redeemer. Now, to have this
set forth before angels would have been contrary to
the whole sense of Scripture. (See Exod. xxxvii. 9.
Lev. xvi. 14. compared with Heb. ix. 7. 12.)
Evidently, therefore, the cherubim could not be
intended to prefigure angels.
The question is then, What, or whom, did they
represent? I would very humbly say in answer,
that I am inclined to think, with several who have
gone before me in the study of this solemn and
mysterious subject, that the cherubim were emble-
matical of the glorious persons of the Godhead, in
their covenant engagements to redeem our fallen
nature, as represented in those characters united
with the manhood of Christ. And the foundation of
this belief, I humbly beg to subjoin.
And first, to begin with the earliest representa-
tion at the gate of Paradise, we are told, (Gen. iii.
24.) that the Lord himself placed those cherubim
there, which turned every way, to keep the way of
the tree of life. By which I apprehend, the sense
of the expression is, not to keep from, but to keep
to, the way of the tree of life ; meaning, that poor
fallen man now had no access but by this way. And
as we well know, from our Lord's own authority
C H
that Jesus is " the way, and the truth, and the life ;
and no man cometh to the Father, but by him." (John
xiv. 6.) Hence it should seem, that by these
cherubic figures, among which the face of a man
formed a part, immediately at the fall, redemption
through Christ was set up by those emblems, as
manifested to the church.
Secondly, Those cherubim were eminently dis-
played in the Holy of Holies, over and upon the
mercy seat. (See Exod. xxv. 17 — 22, compared
with Heb. xi. 1 — 24.) Now, as from the authority
of those Scriptures, we have full licence to conclude,
that the mercy-seat itself was an emblem of Christ,
and the High Priest going into the Holy of Holies
once in a year, with blood, a lively type of the
Lord Jesus going in with his own blood into hea-
ven itself, there to appear in the presence of God
for us, we cannot for a moment suppose, but that
these cherubim must have been designed to repre-
sent the holy and undivided Three persons in the
Godhead, the one eternal Jehovah, before whom
only, and to whom only, Christ, in his divine and
human nature united, made the one sacrifice of
himself, by which he hath prefected for ever them
that are sanctified. The song of heaven declared,
that the redemption by Christ was from God, as
the first cause, and to God, as the final end. (Rev.
v. 9.) To have set forth, therefore, these solemn
representations, by type and figure, in the Jewish
church, before any but Jehovah himself, would have
been little short of blasphemy, and consequently,
those cherubim, before which every great day of
atonement, the same was regularly observed, could
be emblematical only of the glorious persons of the
Godhead.
If it be objected, that in the vision of Isaiah, chap.
vi. and so again, in the vision of John, Rev. viii.
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where in both Scriptures, we find the seraphim, or
cherubim, (for they mean one and the same), are
represented as worshipping God, and hence it be
said, is there not a contradiction in .supposing Je-
hovah worshipping Jehovah? I answer, certainly
there would be, if this were in reality the case. But
the fact is, that it is not so. Let it be remembered,
that these cherubim are emblems, and not the very
persons they represent. The representatives of
another my join in any acts with others, to proclaim
with them the worth, or praises, of those whom
they represent. As the ambassador of an earthly
king, though he represents his master, may, at the
same time, join his fellow subjects in proclaiming
with them his master's honour. This objection,
therefore, falls to the ground. And though 1 do not
presume, on a subject so mysterious and sublime,
to speak decidedly, yet I cannot but think, that the
cherubim of Scripture, are intended to represent
the glorious persons of the Godhead, with the hu-
man nature united to the person of the Son of God^
and by no means intended to represent angels.
CHILD, C HTLDREN, SONS. These are variously
used in Scripture, to denote one and the same. All
the race of Israel are called the children of Israel.
And in like manner, the children of God in Christ
are called, children of the kingdom. But these
things are so obvious and plain, that I should not
have thought it necessary, in a work of this kind,
purposely contracted into the narrowest compass, to
have noticed the word Child, but for the introducing
a short observation on the term itself, as applied to
the Lord Jesus Christ. On his account I think it im-
portant, and the reader will, I hope, forgive me.
We meet with the word Child, in relation to
Jesus, several times in Scripture ; but there are
two places where it occurs, with a peculiar empha-
G H
isa
sis of expression, and where the word holy is pre-
fixed,, as if to give it an endearedness to the be-
liever's heart. The passages I refer to are in the
prayer of the church, on that memorable occasion
when the Lord answered, by an immediate shaking1
of the place where they were assembled. (Acts
iv. 27—30.) " Of a truth, Lord, against thy holy
child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together. And now, Lord, grant that signs and
wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child
Jesus." I know not whether the reader enters with
me into an apprehension of the very great loveli-
ness, as well as importance, of the expression, in
respect to the holy child Jesus ; but I cannot but
think, that the church, in this prayer, laid the whole
stress, for their prayers being answered, upon the
person of Jesus, in the holiness of that nature ;
which nature the church considered as its own.
And for the complete justification of the church,
the Lord Jesus took that nature in its perfect holi-
ness. So that as the church then did, so may, and
so ought, all believers now to rest the whole hope
and expectation of an answer to all their prayers
before the throne, upon the sole ground of the
same sweet and lovely expression, sent up to God
the Father, " by the name of thy holy child Jesus."
CHILDLESS. Nothing, among the Hebrews was
considered a more afflictive providence, than to
have no children ; probably with an eye to the pro-
mised seed. Hence Abraham, the great father
of the faithful, when the Lord promised, that he
himself would be his shield, and his exceeding
great reward, said, Lord God, " what wilt thou give
me, seeing I go childless ?" (Gen. xv. 1, 2.) And
the punishment the Lord appointed to unnatural
alliances, was to bear their sin, in dying childless.
156
(Lev. xx. 20.) And in the case of Coniah, the Lord
said, "Write this man childless." (Jer. xxii. 30.)
It were well among- Christians, if this was well un-
derstood. How many consider a large family the
reverse, and overlook that Scripture, which de-
clares the man "happy, that hath his quiver full of
children !"(Ps. cxxvii. 5.)
CHILION. See Mahlon.
CHOSEN OF GOD. We find this act of special
grace in Jehovah, as it concerns the person of
Christ and his people in him, so often in the Scrip-
ture, and as it is so important, I have thought a
reference to some of the more prominent texts
would not be unacceptable, in a work of this kind.
Concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as
chosen, and set apart from all eternity, the glori-
ous Head and Mediator of his people, these por-
tions are some among the many. Isa. xli. 8, 9 ; xliii.
10. compared with Matt. xii. 18. Neh. ix. 7. Num.
xvi. 5. 7. Ps. xlvii. 4. Isa. xlix. 7. Ps. lxxxix. 3. 19.
Isa. xlviii. 10. Luke xxiii. 35. 1 Pet. ii. 4. &c.
And concerning the children of Christ chosen in
him, and sanctified in him, the following are among
the many with which the word of God abounds to
the same doctrine. Ephes. i. 4. Isa. xiv. 1. Deut.
vii. 6. Ps. cv. 5. 43. 1 Chron. xvi. 13. Ps. cvi. 5.
Isa. xliii. 20; lxv. 15. Matt. xx. 16. Mark xiii. 20.
John xiii. 18; xv. 16. 19. Acts. xxii. 14; ix. 15.
1 Cor. i. 27. Rom. xvi. 13. Jam. ii. 5. 1 Pet. ii. 9.
Rev. xvii. 14, &c.
CHRIST. One of the adorable names of the Lord
Jesus, and signifying the Anointed of Jehovah.
It is precisely the same word as Messiah in the
original Hebrew. The name Christ, specially
and particularly, means the union of both natures
in the person of the Lord Jesus, both divine and
human ; and as such becoming the Christ of God.
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The Scriptures are express and clear, in a great
variety of instances, in proof of his eternal power
and Godhehd, being " one with the Father over
all, God blessed for ever." (Rom. ix. 5. John i. 1.
Matt. iii. 17.) And no less in testimony of
his human nature. (John i. 14. Heb. ii. 9. to the
end.) But when we speak of Christ, we neither
mean Son of God only, nor Man only, but include
both natures, constituting- one person, the glorious
Head of his body the church, " the fulness of Him
that filleth all in all." (Eph. i. 22, 23.)
As the clear apprehension of the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ is not only among' the first things
to be rightly impressed upon the mind, but the
very first and most essential of all others, for the
full enjoyment of our interest in him, I hope that I
shall be forgiven, if I somewhat exceed the ordi-
nary limits I have hitherto observed, under the
several articles. Before I enter upon the subject,
I beg first to remark, that the general errors we
have run into concerning the forming of a proper
apprehension of the person of Christ, hath arisen
from misinterpreting Scripture on this point.
Some parts of the word of God speak wholly of
Christ's Godhead, and some of his manhood.
And in those we cannot err. But the error aris-
eth from making application of those passages
which refer to Christ, under both as God-man
Mediator, and concluding that they speak of him
as the Son of God, when, in fact, they are holding
him forth as Christ only, that is, God and man in
one person. To this one cause must be ascribed
the origin of all the Arian, Socinian, and Unitarian
heresy. A small attention to the Scriptures, with
this discrimination, will be sufficient to explain, and,
I hope, set this important subject in a clear light.
Among many portions of God's word, which
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might be brought forward in proof, by way of
illustration, I beg to refer to those two memorable
passages in the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to
the Colossians, and his Epistle to the Hebrews.
When, as in the former, the apostle saith, " he is
the Image of the invisible God, the first born of
every creature ; for by him were all things created
that are in heaven, and that are in earth ;" nothing
can be more plain, than that this could never be
said of the Son of God, as the Son of God only,
for in his Godhead, he could never be said to be
" the first born of every creature ;" neither could
it be of the Lord Jesus as man only, for then, how
could u all things be created by him that are in
heaven, and in earth ? " But if we read the whole
passage, as the apostle evidently meant it, with an
eye to Christ, as the Christ of God, that is, God and
man in one person, constituting God-man Mediator ;
in this sense every difficulty vanisheth. For then
Christ is, indeed, in his human nature, "the image
of the invisible God," set up as the covenant Head
of his church from everlasting. And though not
openly manifested until the fulness of time, yet
secretly, and as " the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world." (Rev. xiii. 8.) And no
less Christ in his divine nature, he is here repre-
sented as testified in those acts of the Godhead ;
for creation can belong to none but God. And by
the union of both God and man in one person, he
is the Christ of God, " by whom all things
were created, and by whom all things consist."
For as God only, there was nothing created that
could stand in union with him. And as man only,
neither of those acts could have been exercised and
carried on, but in the union and junction of both; his
Godhead gives power to the whole of what is
here ascribed to him, and his manhood united to
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the Godhead, renders him the suited Head of all
creation, and upholder of all, that u in all things he
might have the pre-eminence."
Similar to the same plain and obvious truths, is
that memorable passage also of Paul's first chapter
to the Hebrews. " God (saith the apostle), who at
sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time
past to the fathers by the prophets, hath, in these
last days, spoken unto us by his Son." Then follows
the office-character of Christ, as Christ, in the Son of
God assuming our nature, and taking it into union
with the Godhead, thereby becoming Christ.
"Whom he hath appointed heir of all things." How
appointed ? Not surely, as God only, for in this
case the appointment was not only unnecessary, but
impossible, for the Son of God, as God, possessed in
common with the Father, and the Holy Ghost,
the absolute inheritance of all things from all eter-
nity. He could receive nothing in this sense, being
"one with the Father over all, God blessed for ever."
(Rom.ix. 5.) But if consideredas Christ, thatis, God-
man Mediator, he then receives the appointment, as
heir of all things, and Lord of all things, and in whom
all things might be gathered. (Ephes.i. 10.-22,23.)
Read, in this point of view, the whole chapter is
as plain and intelligible as words can render it :
" Who being the brightness of his Father's glory,
and the express image of his person, and uphold-
ing all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high," &c. Who
was it purged our sins ? Not the Son of God as
God only. Not the Son of man as man only.
But Christ as Christ ; that is, God and man in one
person. It was essential to salvation, that Christ
should offer himself for a sacrifice, for u without shed-
ding of blood there is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.)
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Hence, the Son of God is introduced, under the
spirit of prophecy, (Ps. xl. and explained by Heb.x.)
as saying, " A body hast thou prepared me." But
that that sacrifice might possess an infinite dignity
and value, it must be united to the Godhead. And
hence, in the union of both, there is an everlasting
efficacy and glory in Christ's once offering of him-
self; once offered, not only to take away the sins
of the whole world, but to bring in a redundancy of
glory to Jehovah, which will continue for ever and
ever. When, therefore, Christ, as Christ, had by
himself purged our sins, He, the Christ of God,
God-man in one person, " sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high." And who was it that
the apostle saith, in this same chapter, was anointed
with the oil of gladness above his fellows ? Whom
are the angels commanded to worship, when Jeho-
vah brings in this first begotten into the world ?
Not surely, the Son of God as God only, neither
the Son of man as man only ; for of either, sepa-
rately, these things could never be spoken. But
it is of Christ, as Christ, the Christ of God, both
natures united, and forming one glorious Mediator,
suited to make up (and which, to the praise of the
riches of his grace, he hath most completely done),
the deadly breach which sin had made between God
and man. And now having accomplished redemp-
ption by his blood, he is, and ever will be, the One
glorious object of adoration, love, and praise, to all
the creation of God, angels, and men, to all eternity.
Such then is Christ.
It will be proper, for the better apprehension of
Christ, as Christ, having thus explained the scrip-
tural account of his person, to add to this account
what the word of God hath revealed of his office,
and character, and relation. In his office, we be-
hold him undertaking and finishing the whole work
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of redemption. In his character, he stands forth
as the great representative of his people. And in
his relation to us, he conies home endeared to our
warmest affection, not only in what he hath done
for us, but for the nearness of affinity in which he
is united to us ; seeing that he fills all relations,
for he is, in one and the same moment, our ever-
lasting Father, our Husband, Brother, Friend.
Moreover, to these views of Christ must be ad-
ded, that He is the One great and glorious object
of which the whole law, types, prophecies, and re-
velations point ; and in whom they all, like rays of
light converging to one centre, find their end and
termination. He is the great sum and substance of
all the promises of the Bible. Without him they
are void of meaning, and never to be fulfilled ; but
in him they are all yea, and amen. In a word,
Christ is the one glorious repository of all things
in heaven and in earth, the fulness that filleth all in
all. The church upon earth hath no resource for
life and grace, but in him ; neither hath the church
in heaven to derive glory from, but the Lord
Jesus.
It will form no improper conclusion to this ac-
count of Christ, if we add to it the names by which
Christ is revealed in his sacred word, under the
several views there given of him as God, as man,
and as God-man Mediator. Distinct views of him
under each, after what hath been said, will, it is
hoped, be very acceptable to the gracious mind,
and be owned and blessed of the Lord.
And first as God.
He is the Alpha and Omega, Rev. i. 8. 11.
He is the blessed and only Potentate, King of
kings, and Lord of lords, 1 Tim. vi. 15. Rev. xvii. 14.
The brightness of his Father's glory, Heb. i. 3.
VOL. VI. M
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The Creator of Israel, Isa. xliii. 15.
Emmanuel, God with us, Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.
Eternal life, 1 John v. 20.
The Everlasting Father, Isa. ix. 6.
The faithful witness, Rev. i. 5. 1 John v. 7.
The first and the last, Rev. i. 17. Rev. ii. 8.
God in common with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, John i. 1. Rom. ix. 5. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 John
v. 20. Jude, 25.
Heir of all things, Heb. i. 2.
Most Highest, Ps. xviii. 13. Luke i. 32.
Most high, Luke viii. 28.
The Holy One of God, Mark i. 24.
The Holy One of Israel, Isa. xli. 14.
I AM, Exod. iii. 14. John. viii. 58.
JAH, Ps. lxviii. 4. Deut, xxxiii. 26.
JEHOVAH, Jer. xxiii. 6.
The King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the
only wise God, 1 Tim i. 17.
Lawgiver, Isa. xxxiii. 22. Jam. iv. 12.
Light, John i. 9 ; viii. 12 ; xii. 46.
Living God, 1 Tim. iii. 15.
Life, John xiv. 6.
Lord, and Lord of lords, Ps. ex. Rom. i. 3. Rev.
xvii. 14.
Son of God, Matt iv. 13. &c.
Next let us attend to the names given to Christ,
in Scripture, in testimony of his manhood.
Christ is called
Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 45.
Babe, Luke ii. 16.
Child, Isa ix. 6. Acts iv. 30.
David, Ps. lxxxix. 3. Jer. xxx. 9. Exek. xxxvii.
24, 25. Hos. iii. 5.
Flesh, John i. 14.
Friend of sinners, Matt. xi. 19.
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Husband, Isa. liv. 5. Jer. xxxi. 32.
Brother, Heb. ii. 11.
Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, Isa. xli. 8;
xliv. 1. 5. Rev. v. 5.
Man, Acts, xvii. 31. ITim. ii. 5.
Seed of the woman, Gen. iii. 15.
Seed of Abraham, Gal. iii. 19.
Seed of David, 2 Tim. ii. 8.
Son of man, Matt. viii. 20.
Thirdly, Let us take a view of some of the names
and characters by which Christ is known in the Holy
Scripture, considered in the union of both God and
man in one person, thus constituted as one Christ.
I say some of the names, for to enumerate the
whole would swell our Poor man's Concordance
beyond the limits necessary to be observed, in a
work of this kind. Christ in his twofold nature of
God and man in one person, is known and distin-
guished in the sacred word, as,
An Advocate with the Father, 1 John ii. L.
The Angel of the Covenant, Mai. iii. 1.
The Ancient of days, Dan. vii. 22.
The Anointed of the Father, Psal. ii. 2. Heb . i. 9.
Ps. xlv. 7.
The Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Heb. iii. 1.
The Author and Finisher of faith, Heb. xii. 2.
The Beginning- of the creation of God, Rev.
iii. 14. The Beloved in whom the church is accep-
ted, Ephes. i. 6.
The Bishop of our souls, 1 Pet. ii. 25.
The Bread of life and living Bread, John
vi. 48. 51.
The Branch of righteousness, Zech, iii. 8.
The man whose name is the BRANCH, Zech.
vi. 12.
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The Bridegroom of his church, John iii. 29.
The Bright and Morning Star, Rev. xxii. 16.
The Captain of our salvation, Heb. ii. 10.
The One chosen of the people, Ps. lxxxix. 19.
The Consolation of Israel, Luke ii. 25.
The Corner Stone, and Foundation Stone which
God hath laid in Zion, Isa. xxviii. 16. Eph. ii. 20.
1 Pet. iv. 6.
The Covenant of the people, Isa. xlii. 6 ; xlix. 8.
The Wonderful Councillor, Isa. ix. 6.
The Hiding Place and Covert from the storm,
Isa. xxxii. 2. Ps. xxxii. 7.
The Day's- man, Job ix. 33.
The Day dawn, and Day Star in the heart, 2 Pet.
i. 19.
The Desire of all nations, Hag. ii. 7.
The Delivererthat shall come out of Zion, Isa.lix.
20. Rom. xi. 26.
He that promiseth to be as the Dew unto Israel,
Hos. xiv. 5.
The Diadem in Jehovah's hand, Isa. lxii. 3.
The Door of his sheepfold, John x. 7.
The Elect in whom Jehovah's soul delighteth, Isa.
xlii. 1.
The Ensign Jehovah hath set up to the people,
Isa. xi. 10.
The Express Image of the Father's person,
Heb. i. 3.
The first begotten of the dead, Rev. i. 5.
The first-fruits, 1 Cor. xv. 23.
The Fountain opened to the house of David, &c.
Zech. xiii. 1.
The Forerunner, Heb. vi. 20.
The Unspeakable Gift of God, the Power of God,
2 Cor. ix. 15. 1 Cor. i. 24.
The Wisdom of God, the Glory of God, the Sent
of God, the Lamb of God, &c. Isa. xl. 5. 1 John
iv. 14. John i. 29.
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The Head of his body the church, Ephes. i. 22,
23. Col. i. 18.
The High Priest, the Prophet, and the King of
his people, Heb. v. i. Luke iv. 24. Matt. xxi. 5.
The Hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof, Jer.
xiv. 8. Acts xxviii. 20.
Jesus, Matt. i. 21. 1 Thess. i. 10.
Immanuel, Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23.
Judge, Isa. xxxiii. 22. Mic. v. 1. Acts x. 42. .
A Leader to the people, Isa. lv. 4.
Christ is peculiarly calledMaster, Mat.xxiii.8. 10.
The One Mediator, 1 Tim. ii. 5.
Melchizedeck, Heb. vii. 1.
Messiah, Dan. ix. 25. John i. 41.
Michael, Dan. xii. 1. Rev. xii. 7.
The Morning Star, Rev. ii. 28. Rev. xxii. 1G.
Christ our Passover, 1 Cor. v. 7.
Prince, and Prince of peace, and of life, Isa. ix. 6.
Acts v. 31 ; in. 15.
Redeemer, Isa. lix. 20 ; Ix. 16.
Resurrection, John xi. 25.
Refiner, Mai. iii. 3.
Rock, Deut. xxxii. 15. 1 Cor. x. 4.
Root and Offspring- of David, Rev. xxii. 16.
Sacrifice, Ephes. v. 2
Salvation, Isa. xlix. 6. Luke ii. 30.
The Sanctification of his people, 1 Cor. i. 30.
Sanctuary, Isa. viii. 14.
The One Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, Ezek.
xxxiv. 23. John x. 1.
The Chief Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, 1 Pet.
v. 4. Heb. xiii. 20.
The Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10.
The Strength of Israel, 1 Sam. xv. 29.
The Son of Righteousness, Mai. iv. 2.
The Lord our Righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6.
The Surety of a better Testament, Heb. vii. 22.
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The True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched
and not man, Heb. viii. 2.
The Teacher come from God, John hi. 2.
The Temple made without hands, Mark. xiv. 58.
John ii. 19—21. Dan. ii. 45.
The Testator, Heb. ix. 16, 17.
The tree of life, Gen. Hi. 24. Rev. xxii. 2.
Truth itself, John xiv. 6. John xviii. 38.
The Way, and only Way, John xiv. 6. with Isa.
xxxv. 8.
The water of life, and well of living water, John
iv. 14. Song iv. 15. John vii. 37—39.
The wisdom of God, and Wisdom, 1 Cor. i. 24.
Prov. viii. 1, &c.
The Witness, Rev. i. 5. Isa. xliii. 10. Rev. iii. 14.
Wonderful, Isa. ix. 6.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever, Heb. xiii. 8.
To these should be added, under a fourth division,
the names which Christ hath, in Scripture, in com-
mon with his church ; for these give a most en-
deared and interesting view of the loveliness and
sweetness of his person ; but as these will meet us
under the next article, the church, which comes to
be noticed in the Poor Man's Concordance, I refer
the reader to it there. I only detain the reader
one moment longer, just to remark, on what hath
been already offered on this blessed name of our
Lord, how gracious God the Holy Ghost hath been
to the church, to give so many and such very pre^
cious names to the Lord Jesus in the word of God,
for his church to know him by and to enjoy him in.
Had it been the intention of the Eternal Spirit,
merely to have revealed him to the people and no
more, one name, in this case, would have been
sufficient to have identified his person. But no, God
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the Holy Ghost would not only identify his person,
but endear Him to the heart of his redeemed, under
all the sweet and gracious characters, and offices,
and relations, into which the Son of God hath con-
descended to put himself for the salvation of his
people ; and therefore, all these, and numberless
other names of the like nature, Christ shall be known
by in his word of truth.
And what makes the love and wisdom of the Holy
Ghost so blessed to the believer's heart in this par-
ticular is, that numerous and great as the names of
Jesus are in his blessed word, there is not one by
which Jesus is there called and known, but what be-
comes dear to their hearts, and which, at one time or
other, they do not want, and which they would not
hav had left out in the Bible for a thous and worlds
Surely, the reader will never think of the subject,
in which Christ appears thus lovely and endeared^
without crying out with the apostle, * Thanks be unto
God for his unspeakable gift !" (2 Cor. ix. 15.)
CHURCH. Tn the Old and New Testament lan-
guage, by the church of God is uniformly meant, the
whole body of the faithful, of which Christ is the
Head. The apostle to the Hebrews defines the
meaning of the church, when he calls it " the general
assembly and church of the first-born, which are
written in heaven." (Heb. xii. 23.) And the apostle
John no less defines it, when he speaks of the names
written in the Lamb's book of life. (Rev. xxi. 27.) Yea,
our Lord himself fixeth the meaning, when bidding
his disciples to rejoice not at the devils being sub-
ject to them, in his name, but because their names
were written in heaven. (Luke x. 20.) By the church
therefore, is meant, the whole body of Christ both
in heaven and earth, the elect of God in Christ,
given by the Father to the Son, redeemed by the
Son, and sanctified by God the Holy Ghost, and
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called. And, although we sometimes meet with the
expression of churches in the word of God, such as
when it is said, the churches had rest throughout all
Judea, (Acts ix. 31.) and again, all the churches of
the Gentiles give thanks, (Rom. xvi. 4.) yet, the
whole multitude of the people, of what kindred or
nation soever, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether
bond or free, from the beginning of the world to
the consummation of all things, form but one and
the same body, of which Christ is the glorious Head.
Such is the church.
And it is blessed to see in the word of God how
plainly and evidently this church, made up of
Christ's members, and gathered out of the world's
wide wilderness, is distinguished so as to prove
whose she is, and to whom she belongs.
The Lord Jesus himself describes her union with
himself under the similitude of branches in a vine,
(John xv. 1, &c.) and shews, as plain as words can
make it, that the vine and the branches are not more
closely knit together, and forming one, than is
Christ and his church. Yea, the figure doth not
come up to the reality ; for a branch may be, and
sometimes is, separated from the vine, but not so
can this take place between Christ and his church,
for he saith, u Because I life, ye shall live also." (John
xiv. 19.) And his servant, the apostle Paul, de-
scribes the intimate connection of Christ with his
church, under the similitude of the marriage state.
(Ephes. v. 25 — 32.) u This is a great mystery,
(saith the apostle,) but I speak concerning Christ and
the church." Nevertheless, even here again, this
beautiful figure, tender and affectionate as it is,
falls far short of the oneness and union between
Christ and his church. For death puts an end to
all the connections of man and wife upon earth.
But in respect to Christ and his spouse, the church,
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the dying day of the believer is but the wedding-
day. It is but as an espousal, a betrothing before ;
but in that day the church is brought home by her
all-lovely and all-loving Husband, to the marriage
supper of the lamb in heaven. (See those Scrip-
tures, Hos. ii. 19, 20. Rev. xix. 7—9.)
The best service, I apprehend, which I can render
to the reader, under this article of the church, will
be (to do what I should otherwise have done under
the former, when speaking of Christ, but conceiv-
ing it might as well be noticed under this,) to bring
into one view the several names which Christ and
his church have, in common, in the word of God,
which certainly form the highest evidence that can
be desired, in proof of their union and oneness
and interest in each other. Nothing, indeed, can
be more lovely and delightful to the contemplation.
It will be proper to introduce this account, with
first shewing some of the special and peculiar pri-
vileges the church possesseth, both in name and in
interest, from her union and oneness with her Lord,
and then follow this up with the view of those
names and appellations Jesus and his church have
in common together.
The church is distinguished, by virtue of her in-
terest in Christ, as the body of Christ, Ephes. i. 23.
Brethren of Christ, Rom. viii. 29. Heb. iii. 1.
The bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev. xxi. 9.
Children of the kingdom, Matt. xiii. 38.
They are called christians after Christ, Acts
xi. 26.
The church of God, 1 Cor. i. 2.
Companions, Ps. xlv. 14. Song i. 7
Complete in Christ, Col. ii. 10.
Daughter of the King, Ps. xlv. 13.
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Comely in Christ's comeliness, Ezek. xvi. 14.
Election, Rom. ix. 11.
Family of God, Ephes. iii. 15.
Flock of God, Acts xx. 28.
Fold of Christ, John x. 16.
Friends of God, James ii. 23.
Glory of God, Isa. xlvi. 13.
Habitation of God, Ephes. ii. 22.
Heritage of God, Jer. xii. 7. Ps. cxxvii. 3. Joel
iii. 2.
The Israel of God, Gal. vi. 16
The lot of God's inheritance, Deut. xxxii. 9.
Members of Christ, Ephes. v. 30.
Peculiar people, 1 Pet. ii. 9.
The portion of the Lord, Deut. xxxii. 9.
The temple of God, 1 Cor. iii. 16.
The treasure of God, Ps. cxxxv. 4.
Vessels of mercy, Rom. ix. 23.
The vineyard of the Lord, Isa. v. 1, &c.
These, with many others of the like nature, are
among the distinguishing names by which the church
of Christ is known in Scripture, by reason of her
oneness and union with Him.
But this view of the intimate and everlasting
connection between Christ and his church will be
abundantly heightened, if we add to it what was
proposed to shew the sameness between them,
from being known under the same names, as de-
scriptive of this union. A few examples in point
will be enough. Christ condescends to be known
by the name of Adam, as our first father : u As the
first Adam was made a living soul, so the last Adam
was made a quickening Spirit." (1 Cor xv. 45.) As
Christ is called a Babe, so are they said to be babes
in Christ. (Luke ii. 16. 1 Pet. ii. 2.) As Christ
is declared to be the dearly beloved of the Father,
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(Jer. xii. 7.) so the church is said to be dearly be-
loved also, (1 Cor. x. 14. Phil. iv. 1. 2 Tim i. 2.)
Is Christ the Elect, in whom Jehovah's soul de-
lighteth ? so are they elect, according to the fore-
knowledge of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ. (Isa. xlii. 1. 1 Pet. i. 2.) Is Jesus the heir
of all things ? (Heb. i. 2.) so are they heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ, (Rom. viii. 17.) And
when that Christ, by the spirit of prophecy, is called
Jehovah our righteousness, the church as his wife,
and entitled to every thing in him, is also called by
the same name, Jehovah our righteousness. (See,
compared together, Jer. xxiii. 6. with xxxiii. 16.)
Yea, in one remarkable instance, the church not
only bears Christ's name, but Christ bears hers.
He is called Jacob, and Israel. (Isa. xli. 8. and
xlix. 3.)
Without enlarging this point farther, for enough,
I presume, hath been advanced in proof of the
thing itself, nothing can be more plain, and nothing
can be more highly satisfactory, than this oneness,
from union and participation between Christ and
his church. And I trust, the review will be always
blessed to the believer's heart, and, under the
Holy Ghost's teaching, be always leading out the
affections to the full enjoyment of it, agreeably to
the mind and will of God.
CIRCUMCISION. There is somewhat particularly
interesting in this Jewish rite. And as the ap-
pointment is from God, it demands suitable atten-
tion for the proper apprehension of it. It evi-
dently appears, from the first moment of its insti-
tution, that the ordination was with an eye to Christ,
for the covenant of redemption by Jesus had this
token or seal, and it is expressly said, " that Jesus
Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, to confirm the promise made unto
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the fathers." (Rom. xv. 8.) And by the ceasing
of this Jewish rite, and the institution of Baptism
to supersede it, it should seem, that it was under-
stood by Christ's submitting to this act, he thereby
became debtor to the whole law, and fulfilled it :
and hence, all his redeemed not only are freed
from it, but, in fact, they are prohibited the obser-
vance. Paul the apostle was so earnest on this
point, that he declared to the Galatian church that
an attention to circumcision virtually denied the
covenant. " Behold, I Paul (said he) say unto you,
that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you
nothing-." (Gal. v. 2.) And the reason seems to have
been this : The seed of Abraham, by the act of
circumcision, declared that they were looking for
and waiting to the coming of the promised Seed,
in whom all the families of the faithful were to be
blessed. To be circumcised, therefore, after Christ
was come, was in effect denying that Christ was
come, and by that act saying, We are looking for
his coming. Hence, all the faithful posterity of
Abraham were so tenacious of observing the rite
of circumcision before Christ came, and so deter-
mined not to observe it after. And also, this other
cause renders circumcision improper. The person
circumcised, by that act, declared himself under
obligations to fulfil the whole law. And hence
Christ submitted to it with this view. But his re-
deemed are justified in Him, and therefore, to un-
dergo circumcision would imply a defect in this jus-
tification. u I testify (said Paul,) again, to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do
the whole law." (Gal. v. 3.) This, then, is the proper
apprehension concerning the rite of circumcision.
CITY. Which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God, (Heb. xi. 10.) I think it not improper
to notice this, in a work of this kind, inasmuch as
173
we meet with the expression frequently in Scrip-
tare, both in allusion to the church of God upon
earth, and the church triumphant in heaven. (See
Ps. xlvi 4; xlviii. L 8 ; Ixxxvii. 3. Song iii. 2, 3.
and also Heb. xii. 22. Rev. iii. 12 ; xxi. 2—10 ;
xxii. 19.) The city of God in his church upon
earth, and in heaven, is one and the same. It is
peculiarly called his, because he hath founded it
and built it, and dwells in it, and is the governor
of it, and grants to the citizens the privileges and
immunities of it. It is the Lord's property both by
purchase, and by conquest, and he hath the whole
revenue of it. And hence, all the inhabitants of
this city are, in heart and mind, one and the same.
For though the church here below is in a militant
state, and the church above, freed from this warfare,
is triumphant, yet, equally dear are the citizens of
both to the Lord of the country. They all speak
the same language, all wear the same garment,
Christ's righteousness, all love the same Lord, and
his Zion, and prefer her interests above their chief
joy. (Ps. cxxxvii. 6.) Reader, what saith your heart
to those characters? (See that Scripture, Rev. xxii.
14, 15.)
CITIES OF REFUGE. See Refuge.
CLEAN. The Scripture sense of one clean deserves
our particular notice. Solomon demands, (Prov.
xx. 9.) " Who can say, I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin?" None among the sons of
Adam can lay claim to this cleanness, much less,
that any have made themselves so. But the apostle
John, commissioned by God the Holy Ghost, tells
the church in a sweetness and fulness of expression
indescribably blessed, that the blood of Jesus Christ
" cleanseth from all sin." ( 1 John i. 7.) Here is the laver,
the fountain, for sin and for all uncleanness, which
Jehovah hath opened. (Zech. xiii. 1.) And hence, the
174
Scripture sense of cleanness, is the sinner freed
from the filth of sin, and the guilt of sin, and the
dominion of sin, by the blood of Christ, and the
sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost. (Ezek.
xxxvi.25. John xiii. 10.)
CLOUD. Clouds in the air, I detain not the reader
to notice, but the ministry of the cloud in the church
of God, when the people went out of Egypt. I think
the particularity of it, and the blessedness of it,
demands the attention of the church in all ages.
And more so, because the promise is still with the
church, that * the Lord will create upon every dwell-
ing place of mount Zion (let the reader not overlook
the every dwelling place), and upon her assemblies,
a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be
a defence." (Isa. iv. 5.) When we consider the pecu-
liarity of this cloud, when we read expressly who
was in it, when we consider the wonderful progress
of it in its ministry, then going before, and then
shifting its station, as occasion required, and going
behind, when we behold the striking account of its
ministry, in the difference of its aspect of light to
Israel, and darkness to the Egyptians, when we
trace the history of it through all the wilderness
dispensation of the church, and discover its blessed
and beneficial influences to Israel, from Succoth
even to Jordan, who but must exclaim, What hath
God wrought ! Surely, it is impossible for any
reader, and every reader, to attend to the wonder-
ful account without joining Moses, the man of God,
and saying, u Happy art thou, O Israel ! who is like
unto thee, O people saved of the Lord ?" (Deut.
xxxiii. 29.) Let the reader turn to those Scriptures,
(Exod. xiii. 21, 22 ; xiv. 19, 20. 24 ; xvi. 10.
Num. xii. 5. Deut. xxxi. 15. Neh. ix. 19. 1 Cor.
x. 1. 4.) But when the reader hath paused over
175
these Scriptures, and duly pondered the wonderous
subject, I entreat him to carry on the blessed con-
sideration (for it is, indeed, most blessed), as it con-
cerns the Exodus, or going forth of the church of
Jesus now. For is not the church the same ? Is
not Jesus's love to it the same? And doth he not go
before it now in the pillar of cloud by day, and fol-
low it in the pillar of fire by night, to guide, to bless,
to protect, yea, himself to be the very supply to it,
through all the eventful journies of its wilderness
state, from the Succoth of the beginning of the spi-
ritual life, even to Jordan, the river of natural death
opening to glory ? What though the cloud, in the mi-
raculous movements of it as to Israel, is not seen,
yet the Lord of the cloud, in his presence, grace,
and love, is sensibly known and enjoyed. Surely,
Old Testament saints had not advantages greater
than New Testament believers. " We now with open
face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii. 18.)
We have the outer displays of the divine presence,
in ordinances, and means of grace, and the blessed
Scriptures of truth, like Israel's cloud. And we have
the inward tokens, in the Lord himself in the midst,
to bless and make himself known in his soul-com-
forting manifestations. This indeed, is the new
creation the Lord promised upon every dwelling
place of mount Zion, and upon all her assemblies.
Here it may be truly said, u upon all the glory shall
be a defence." Precious Lord Jesus ! whilst thou art
thus gracious, and thus blessed, to thy church and
people, we still behold the cloud, yea, now look,
through by faith, and behold thee in the cloud, a
wall of fire round about, and the glory, as thou
didst promise, in the midst of Zion ! (See Zech.
ii. 8.)
176
C L
CLUSTER and CLUSTERS. We meet with this
word upon many occasions in Scripture, but emi-
nently so in two places. First, when the spies
went up to search the promised land, and brought
back the cluster of the rich fruit of Eshcol, (Num.
xiii. 23.) And again, the church, in the book of the
Songs, (chap. i. 14.) where she commends her be-
loved, under the sweet similitude of the same, " My
beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the
vineyards of Engedi." I conceive, that the beauties
of the comparison in both instances are well worth
attending to, in a work of this kind, and, therefore,
I take for granted, that the reader will not be dis-
pleased in my detaining him on the occasion.
Nothing could be more happily chosen in both
instances, when intended, as in the first, to set forth
the fulness, and sweetness, and blessedness of the
promised land than a cluster of its fruits. Christ,
who is himself the glorious object intended to be
set forth, is, indeed, a rich cluster of all divine and
human excellencies in one, full of grace for his
people here, and full of glory to all above. An
ancient author tells us, that the Jews were ac-
customed to call such men as excelled in good
qualities, Eshcoloth ; that is, clusters. And hence
they had a saying, that after the death of Jose Ben
Joezen, a man of Tzereda, and Jose Ben Jochanan,
a man of Jerusalem, the clusters ceased.
In the other instance, in direct allusion to Christ,
in the church's commendation of him, (Song, i. 14.)
there in an uncommon degree of beauty in the simi-
litude. The word camphire is in the original,
copher, and in the Misnah is translated, cyprus.
And Dr. Shaw, in his travels, describes the plant as
being very beautiful and fragrant, advancing in
height to ten or twelve feet, and full of clusters.
Here also, as in the former instance, Christ is
c o
17?
elegantly set forjfr- For as the grapes of Eschol
represented the fulness of Christ, and the blood of
the grape became no unupt resemblance of Him who
trod the wine press of the wrath of God, and whose
blood, in cleansing the sinner, revives the soul in
the assurance of pardon, mercy, and peace, by his
cross, so the cypress, or the camphire, in the fra-
grancy of its clusters, becomes no less typical of
His incense and merits, in whose righteousness
alone the church is accepted. I must not dismiss
this view of the subject before that I have farther
remarked, that the word, translated camphire, is by
some rendered (copher) atonement. The learned
Bishop Patrick hath observed, that the Hebrew
Doctors, by dividing the word Eshcol into two
words, found out the mystery of the Messiah in the
passage, and read them thus, my beloved is unto
me the Esh, that is, the man ; . Col, copher ; that
is, a cluster of atonement. I leave the reader to
his own observation upon the subject, with only
remarking, that on the supposition the Hebrew
Doctors were right, what a lovely Scripture this
is in the Songs, (chap. i. 14.) when the church so
sings of Christ. Surely, Jesus is all this, and infi-
nitely more. Jesus calls himself the vine, (John
xv. 1.) and the church saith that his growth is in
the vineyards of Engedi, the richest soil of all the
earth, where not only the finest grapes, but the
loftiest palm trees abounded, even Hazazon-lamar.
(See 2 Chron. xx. 2.) In Jesus dwelleth " all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily." He is, indeed, a
cluster of all that is desirable " in the life that now
is, and that which is to come."
COCK. Though this bird is too well known to need
any account being given of him, yet being render-
ed so memorable in Scripture, from the circum-
stance of the apostle Peter's denial of Christ, I
VOL. VI. N
178
cannot pass it by without remarking, in allusion to
that striking event, how slender the means which
the Lord is pleased sometimes to make use of, to
answer the most important purposes ! The crow-
ing of a cock is enough, in the Lord's hand, to ac-
complish the Lord's design. No one but Peter un-
derstood what the crowing of this cock meant ; but
to him it became more powerful than the sound of
thunder. Such are the slenderest events in common
life, when the Lord commissions them to be his mes-
sengers ! Some of the Fathers have drawn a resem-
blance between the crowing of the cock, and the
ministry of God's word. For as Peter heard the first
crowing of the cock without the least emotion, so
do men hear the word of God, when unaccompani-
ed with grace, untouched and unconcerned. But
when that word of God is sent home to the heart,
by the powerful conviction of the Spirit of God,
like the eye of Jesus which looked upon Peter, as
the cock crew the second time, then the word is
rendered effectual, and, like Peter, the sinner is led
forth to weep bitterly. (Luke xxii. 61.)
COCKATRICE. See Asp.
CONCUBINE. The Scripture meaning of this name
was not as opprobrious as it is in modern times. A
concubine, indeed, in all ages, was not as highly
ranked as a wife. She was ever considered as se-
condary and subordinate to the person to whom
the husband and father of the family was married.
But in those dark and ignorant times, when men
were allowed (or rather allowed themselves), many
wives, a concubine meant, one that he acknowledged
for a wife, of a subordinate and inferior degree.
And the children of this connection did not, by any
right of their own, possess or claim the inheritance of
their father. And .there was this farther distinction
between the lawful wife, and the concubine, there
c o
179
was no religious ceremony used at the taking of a
concubine ; whereas, the lawful wife was usually
betrothed to her husband before marriage, and some-
times, from the very childhood of the respective
parties. And when the time appointed for the con-
summation of the marriage arrived, this was always
done with great order and solemnity: and all the
friends of the respective parties were invited to the
wedding. I hope the reader will not lose sight -of
the marriage of Jesus with our nature, in this view
of the subject, and will remember, that the union of
Chris twith his church is uniformly set forth in the
most blessed similitudes and figures of this kind
through the whole Bible. Jesus was set up, as the
glorious Head and Husband of his church, from
everlasting. And, in fact, the whole of the union,
in the present state, is but a betrothing. (See
Hos. ii. 19, 20.) At the final consummation of all
things, Jesus will bring home his bride, and then
will be the marriage-supper of the Lamb in heaven.
(Rev. xix. 9.)
I beg to make a farther observation on this sub-
ject, while I am upon it, and to call the reader to
remark with me, that even in those times of igno-
rance, when men gave loose to their corrupt af-
fections, yet, the very law of usage concerning
concubines carried with it a decided testimony,
that even in the very moment they gave way to
their unbridled passions, yet, by the reverence
shewn the lawful wife, they tacitly confessed the
just and honourable appointment of the Lord. It
was well known, and well understood, that at the
beginning the Lord made our first parents, and
united them together ; teaching, that when thus
formed in holy wedlock, they were no longer con-
sidered, in His eye, as separate, but one. The
Lord himself said, " They shall be one flesh." And
N 2
180
our Lord's own comment upon it decidedly deter-
mines the point. " What therefore (saith Jesus)
God hath joined together, let not man put asun-
der." (Compare Gen. ii. 24. with Mark x. 9.) Now
the introduction of a concubine, of how inferior
a degree soever she may be, is, to all intents and
purposes, a destroying this junction, and, by so
much, a breach of the original appointment of the
Lord.
And it were devoutly to be wished, that men
would consider the subject in this point of view,
for it is to be apprehended, by what passeth too
often in common life, men have not accustomed
themselves to this consideration of it. I am not
now taking up the subject in respect to the sad
immorality of it, though the awful consequences,
in the instances of thousands, too loudly condemn
daily the breach of the marriage vow on that score;
but I am carrying the matter higher, in shewing
the awfulness of it, as a defiance of the divine ap-
pointment. Hence, when the Pharisees came to
our Lord to ask the question about putting away
their wives, and pleaded Moses's permission in
certain cases, our Lord expressly said, that
Moses's permission was from the hardness of their
heart, but from the beginning (saith Jesus), it was
not so. The man and woman once united in
wedlock, were no longer separable but by death.
(Matt. xix. 3 — 9.) And his servant, the apostle,
finished the matter from his Master's authority,
when he saith, " Let every man have his own wife,
and let every woman have her own husband."
(1 Cor. vii. 2.)
I must not finish the subject without first de-
siring the reader to take with him that sweet
thought, that in the marriage of the Lord Jesus
with our nature (which the marriage-state in nature
CO
181
is a type of), both in the general purpose of it
with his church at large, and with the person of
every individual member of his mystical body in
particular, there is no concubine to interrupt the
present and everlasting happiness of our union
with Christ Jesus. Though we have, indeed,
proved unfaithful, yet hath not Jesus. Though
we have played the harlot with many lovers, yet
still he saith, " I am married to you, saith the Lord."
Oh ! what unknown, what unspeakable glory is
there in those words of our Lord — K I will betroth
thee unto me for ever ; yea, I will belroth thee
unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
loving kindness, and in mercies; I will even betroth
thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know
the Lord." (Hos. ii. 19, 20. See the whole
chapter.)
And think reader, what will it be in that day of
final consummation, when the Lord shall bring
home his church, and every individual of his mys-
tical body shall be found one with the Lord, in an
everlasting union never to be dissolved ! Oh, the
joy in Jesus's own declaration, " At that day ye
shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me,
and I in you !" (John xiv. 20.)
CONSOLATION. The great work of God the
Holy Ghost is consolation. And it is most blessed
to the souls of the truly regenerate, in whose
hearts the Lord graciously carrieth it on by his
inward spiritual refreshments, to watch and ob-
serve how the tendencies of his grace are made
towards them. " He takes of the things of Christ,
and sheweth to them." And he it is that sheds
abroad the love of God the Father in the heart,
and directs the minds of the people into the patient
waiting for Jesus Christ. So that all the actings of
our faith upon either of the persons of the Godhead,
182
are from his sweet influences ; and all the mani-
festations the holy and sacred persons make to
the believer, it is God the Holy Ghost teacheth
the soul how to receive and enjoy. And by this
continual process of grace, he doth what the
apostle prayed he might do for the church, as " the
God of hope, fill the soul with all joy and peace in
believing, that they might abound in hope, through
the power of the Holy Ghost " Rom. xv. 13.)
CONVERSION. This great work also is, like the
former, the work of God the Holy Ghost. And
the Lord Jesus, in his description of his person,
describes also his office, work and character. u He
shall reprove, saith Jesus, the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment." (Johnxvi.7 — 15.)
And to remark the wonderful operations of his
grace under those several branches of his almighty
power, by which he gives the fullest discoveries
of our worthlessness, and the glorious manifestations
of Jesus's grace, and fulness, and suitability, these
are among the highest instructions the souls of men
can attain in the present life. Blessed and Sovereign
Convincer ! I would say, bring my soul under thy
divine illuminations, that my whole heart may be
savingly converted unto God.
CORBAN. We meet with this word but once in the
Bible. (Mark vii. 11.) But it should seem, from the
manner in which it is spoken of by our blessed Lord,
that the Jews were much in the habit of using it.
The word Corban was applied by the Jews to all
voluntary gifts. It should seem to have been
taken from the word Karab, to give. And from a
passage in the gospel by St. Matthew, it should
appear that they not unfrequently swore by it. (Matt,
xxiii. 18, 19.) As they used the word Corban
upon certain occasions, so they, sometimes, used
the word Mencha, which means offering, for all pre-
sentations to the temple. See Offering.
183
The manner in which our Lord hath condemned
the Jews, for the use of the word Corban, plainly
shews what a pretext, or covering-, they made it to
evade important duties. * Moses said, Honour thy
father and thy mother; and whoso curseth father or
mother, let him die the death. But ye say, If a
man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban ;
that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest
be profited by me ; he shall be free. And . ye
suffer him no more to do ought for his father or
his mother." (Mark vii. 10 — 12.) By which, it
should seem, that those unfeeling men sheltered
themselves, from affording relief to the necessities
of their parents, under pretence, that they had
made a Corban of what they had to the Lord.
" It is Corban, said they ; that is, it is the Lord's.
I have devoted all I can spare to the service of the
temple — I cannot help you."
Blessed Lord ! how sweetly doth thy gospel ex-
plain and enforce that unceasing precept both of
nature and of grace, and which needs no higher
rewards to follow than a man's own uncorrupt
feelings — " Honour thy father and thy mother, which
(saith the Holy Ghost), is the first commandment
with promise." (Ephes. vi. 2.) It is worthy obser-
vation, and deserves to be noticed under this sub-
ject, that this commandment is, indeed, the first to
which a promise is given. For the first table of the
law gives no promise. It is the first commandment
in the second table that opens with a promise, and
a blessed one it is, " that thy days may be long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
(Exod. xx. 12.)
CORN. The corn of wheat is worthy notice in our Con-
cordance, because Jesus is beautifully represented,
and by himself, under this figure. (John xii. 24.)
When the Son of God became incarnate, like a pure
184 C O
grain of corn, yea, and of the finest kind, he fell
into the ground. And what an abundant harvest
of redeemed souls hath he since produced to the
glory of the Almighty Husbandman, his father !
(John xv. 1.)
COVENANT. The Scripture sense of this word is
the same as in the circumstances of common life ;
namely, an agreement between parties. Thus
Abraham and Abimelech entered into covenant at
Beersheba. (Gen. xxi. 32.) And in like manner,
Davd and Jonathan. (1 Sam. xx. 42.) To the same
amount, in point of explanation, must we accept
what is related in Scripture of God's covenant
concerning redemption, made between the sacred
persons of the Godhead, when the holy undivided
Three in One engaged to, and with, each other,
for he salvation of the church of God in Christ.
Thi is that everlasting covenant which was entered
into, and formed in the council of peace before the
word began. For so the apostle was commissioned
by the Holy Ghost, to inform the church concern-
ing that eternal life which was given us, he saith,
in Christ Jesus, u before the world began." (Tit. i. 2.
2 T m. i. 9.) So that this everlasting covenant be-
comes the bottom and foundation in Jehovah's ap-
pointment, and security of all grace and mercy for
the church here, and of all glory and happiness
hereafter, through the alone person, work, blood-
shedding, and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is on this account that his church is chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world. (Ephes.
i. 4.) And from this appointment, before all worlds,
result all the after mercies in time, by which the
happy partakers of such unspeakable grace and
mercy are regenerated, called, adopted, made wil-
ling in the day of God's power, and are justified,
sanctified, and, at length, fully glorified, to the
185
praise of Jehovah's grace, who hath made them ac-
cepted in the Beloved.
Such are the outlines of this blessed covenant.
And which hath all properties contained in it to
make it blessed. It is, therefore, very properly
called in Scripture everlasting- ; for it is sure, un-
changeable, and liable to no possibility of error or
misapplication. Hence, the patriarch David, with
his dying breath, amidst all the untoward circum-
stances which took place in himself and his family,
took refuge and consolation in this : * Although
(said he,) my house be not so with God, yet hath
he made with me an everlasting- covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure ; for this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow."
(2 Sam. xxxiii. 5.)
In the gospel, it is called the New Testament,
or covenant, not in respect to any thing new in it
or from any change or alteration in its substance or
design, but from the promises of the great things
engaged for in the Old Testament dispensation
being now newly confirmed and finished. And as
the glorious person by whom the whole conditions
of the covenant on the part of man was to be per-
formed, had now, according to the original settle-
ments made in eternity, been manifested, and agree-
ably to the very period proposed, * in [whatis called]
the fulness of time, appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself," it was, therefore, called
the New Testament, or Covenant, in his blood.
But the whole purport, plan, design and grace,
originating as it did in the purposes of Jehovah
from all eternity, had all the properties in it of an
everlasting covenant; and Christ always, and from
all eternity, " was considered the Lamb slain from
he foundation of the world." (Rev. xiii. 8.)
COUNSELLOR. One of the well known names of
L86
C R
Christ, and most blessedly answering to his office,
work and character in the hearts of his people. (See
two beautiful proofs among a thousand. Isa. ix.6;
xlviii. 16, 17.) This name at once sets forth
the infinite dignity of his person, and the infinite
suitableness of his salvation; "for in him are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. ii.3.)
In conjunction with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, he was in the council of peace before all
worlds, when the whole scheme of redemption was
formed, and when it was determined upon, to be
brought forth in time, and in its blessings to reach
to all eternity. Wonderful Counsellor ! give thy
people grace to listen to thy gracious and divine
teaching, " and to buyof thee gold tried in the fire."
(Rev. iii. 18.)
COUNTENANCE. I cannot pass over this Scrip-
tural term, because it contains in itself, and conveys
to the people, so much in expression of the mind
of Jesus. " The lifting up the light of God's coun-
tenance upon a soul," implies such an abundance
of favour, that whenever we meet with the words,
they ought to be treasured up as a renewed token
of " the good-will of Him who dwelt in the bush."
(Num. vi. 26. Ps. iv. 6. Deut. xxxiii. 16. Ps. xxi.6.
Songii. 14. Acts ii. 28. Rev. i. 16.)
CREATOR. See Maker.
CROWN. In allusion to Christ, the Scripture mean-
ing of crown is, that all the merit of redemption
is his ; and as such, he wears the crown. Hence,
in the book of the Revelations, he is said to have
been seen with many crowns on his head, (Rev. x.
12.) meaning, from the different offices and charac-
ters which he sustained in accomplishing redemp-
tion, the crown of Godhead he wears in common
with the Father and the Holy Ghost. But the crown
of Mediator is peculiarly and personally his own.
1 87
Hence, he is said to have "power over all flesh,"
as a Prince, and a Saviour, " for to give eternal
life to as many as the Father hath given him."
(John xvii. 2.) Hence, when Jehovah bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith,
u Let all the angels of God worship him." (Heb.
i. 6.) And the crown of salvation put upon the
sacred head of Christ by the church in one full
body, and also by every individual of the church,
multiplies the crowns of Jesus to an infinite extent,
when any and every poor sinner is brought from
darkness to light, and willingly and cheerfully as-
cribes the whole of his own personal salvation to
the Lord Jesus Christ.
CRUCIFIED. When we consider how much the
church of God owes to the cross of Christ, and that
the everlasting joy of heaven springs from the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, it may well merit, a
place in our Concordance, to dwell a few minutes
on the astonishing subject.
The cross, as far as we can learn from history,
on which criminals were executed, was a kind of
gibbet, with timber across, on which the person
condemned to suffer was nailed. The body was
suspended from those nails, which were driven
through the hands, and the arms stretched out to
each extremity. In this manner the criminal re-
mained until life, from the extremity of suffering,
expired. Some have said, that the wretched
sufferers were first nailed to the cross, and then the
whole body lifted on high, and the bottom of the
cross fixed in a socket prepared for that purpose.
And as this was done by a jerk, some of the bones
were generally broken by this act of violence.
But this is not probable. Indeed, in respect to
the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is very
unlikely to have been done, for a a bone of Him
was not to be broken."
m
CR
As crucifixion was not only the most painful but
the most disgraceful of all deaths, the Roman law
never allowed a Roman, be his crime whatever it
might, to be thus degraded. It was only inflicted
on slaves and criminals, for some more atrocious
transgressions. And in order to heighten the
shame and pain, the poor victims, so condemned
to death, were first scourged, and their backs
lacerated with whips or leathern lashes ; and not
unfrequently led through the city naked with
their blood streaming from their wounds, and
carrying their cross to the proposed place of
execution. The reader will not need to be told,
that thus they treated the Lord of life and glory,
whom none of the princes of this world knew,
until that the holy Sufferer fainted from beneath
the load and severity of his pain, when they com-
pelled one that was passing by to bear the cross
for the Lord Jesus.
It was an additional aggravation to the ignominy
of crucifixion, that the sufferer was perfectly naked,
and without the smallest covering. Thus all cri-
minals suffered. And when we consider the per-
sonal cruelties all along shewn to the Lord Jesus,
we cannot suppose, that the smallest respect was
manifested in this particular to his sacred person.
Such then was the death the Son of God in our
nature endured, for the redemption of his church
and people ! But who shall describe the soul-
agonies of Jesus ? Here I stop short. It is the
crucifixion of the body that I am now limited to,
when speaking of the cross of Jesus. Over this
view only, let the reader and writer for a moment
pause, while listening to the call of the Holy Ghost
by his servant the Baptist, " Behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world ! "
(John i. 29.)
189
Was there ever such an object proposed to the
mind of contemplation as the Lord Jesus Christ on
the cross ? It should seem as if the Lord Jesus,
thus stretched forth and thus lifted up, was inviting-,
with his arms extended and his heart bleeding-,
all his redeemed to come to him. Indeed, every
part of his sacred body joined in giving the wel-
come. His arms spread to receive, his feet fixed
to wait, and his head bowed down as if to kiss his
people. Oh, for grace, with Paul, to determine
"to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified !" And with the same holy in-
dignation as he felt, against every thing that would
check the ardour of his love, to cry out, " God for-
bid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and 1 unto the world ! '; (Gal. vi. 14.)
CUBIT. The cubit was a measure used among the
Eastern nations, containing about eighteen inches
of our English measure. The Hebrews, by a
very singular idea, called it Ammah ; that is, mo-
ther: as if other measures were produced by
this.
CUP. I need not make any observation, by way of
explaining what is so very plain and well under
stood in common life, as that of a cup. Neither,
indeed should I have thought it necessary to have
detained the reader over the word, had that been
all that I proposed from it. But as the word cup
is sometimes, and indeed, not unfrequently in Scrip-
ture, used figuratively, I thought it proper to at-
tend to what is implied in the term. Sometimes
the cup is placed for sorrow, and sometimes for
joy, and the lot or portion of a man is called his
cup. Hence, the Psalmist speaking of the bless-
ings of grace in the Lord Jesus, calls them, the
cup of salvation. (Ps. cxvi. 13.) And Paul, when
190 C Y
describing the blessedness of union with Christ,
and communion in consequence thereof with God,
calls the ordinance which resembles it, a cup. "The
cup which we bless (saith he,) is it not the com-
munion of the blood of Christ?" (1 Cor. x. 16.)
Sometimes it is made use of to intimate a partici-
pation in suffering. " Awake, awake, stand up, O
Jerusalem ! which hast drunk at the hand of the
Lord the cup of his fury ; thou hast drunken the
dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them
out." (Isa. li. 17.) And as this, no doubt, under
the language of prophecy, referred to Christ, so in
open language the Lord Jesus himself, speaking of
his soul-exercises, calls it a cup. (Matt. xxvi. 39 —
42. John xviii. 11.)
CURSE and CURSES. We cannot be too atten-
tive to those terms, as they refer to the original
curse pronounced on the fall of our first parents,
and those curses again proclaimed at the giving of
the law on mount Sinai, as the penalty of disobedi-
ence. For the proper apprehension of our whole
nature being involved in the guilt and condemna-
tion of them, and our total inability to help our-
selves, will form a means, under divine teaching, to
discover how Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of bolh, being made u a curse for us." (Gal. iii. 13.)
The whole plan and purpose of redemption turns
upon this hinge. Every thing that is blessed and
consolatory in redemption is founded in this. Faith
looks to Jesus for deliverance from all. And the
apostle's hymn of praise becomes the hymn of
every regenerated believer, that " as sin hath reign-
ed unto death, even so doth grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our
Lord." (Rom. v. 21.)
CYPRESS. See Clusters.
CYRUS. Prince of Persia. This man was an emi-
191
pent instrument in the Lord's hand, for the deliver-
ance of Israel from the Babylonish captivity.
What is very remarkable and worthy the reader's
attention concerning Cyrus is, that the Lord, by the
spirit of prophecy, informed the church one hun-
dred and fifty years, at least, before the captivity
took place, that Cyrus was anointed to end that capti-
vity and bring' his people out of it. And that no mis-
take might arise, the Lord called him by his name
Cyrus, then, so long before he was born. The rea-
der will find much information on this subject by
reading the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy,
and comparing it with Ezra i. and Dan. vi. 28.
One circumstance T must beg to subjoin, because
it is, in my view, very important and striking, con-
cerning this prince of Persia, Cyrus. We plainly
discover, that he was an instrument in the Lord's
hand for good to the church. And we farther dis-
cover, that he was appointed to this long before he
was born. And we also no less perceive, that the
church was assured of this by his name, for their
comfort, under all their exercises, until the time
should come. But all the while Cyrus himself felt no
interest in the great event he was appointed to ac-
complish, and knew not the Lord. For so the Lord
gives the awful account — I have surnamed thee,
said the Lord to him, though thou hast not known
me. And this is again repeated in the following
verse. (See Isa. xlv. 3, 4.)
Depend upon it, reader, the case of Cyrus is not
singular. Multitudes are appointed to minister to
the Lord's people, who neither know the Lord, nor
love his people. But they shall serve the Lord's
purpose, however reluctantly, did they know all,
they would go about it. For rather than the Lord's
poor children shall want bread, Jesus will feed
them at their very enemies' table. And when they
192
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have answered the Lord's purpose, they themselves
are accounted as nothing. What an awful Scripture
that is of our Lord's to this amount : (Matt. vii. 22.)
K Many will say unto me in that day, Lord ! Lord !
have we not prophesied in thy name, and in tby
name cast out devils, and in thy name done many
wonderful works ? To whom Jesus will say, I
never knew you ; depart from me ! "
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DAGON. The dunghill god of the Philistines.
We have the relation concerning this idol, Judg.
xvi. 23. and again, 1 Sam. v. 2, &c. The name
seems well suited for such a purpose, being de-
rived from Dag, fish. Some historians say, that
the idol was formed like a fish.
DALMANUTHA. A place honoured with the
presence of the Lord Jesus. Some make Magdala
and Dalmanutha one and the same. (See Matt. xv.
39. and Mark viii. 10.)
DAMASCUS. The chief city of Syria ; so called
from Damashech, a place of blood, from Damah,
blood. Here Paul was directing his course for
the destruction of the church when the Lord con-
verted him. (Acts ix. 2 — 6, &c.)
DAN. The fifth son of Jacob, and by Bilhah, the
handmaid of Rachel. (Gen. xxx. 4 — 6.) I notice
this man more with a view to make an observation
on his father's prophecy concerning his tribe, than
from any thing particularly to be recorded relative
to Dan himself. Jacob, when dying, prophesied
concerning Dan in these remarkable words : (Gen.
xlix. 16, 17.) " Dan shall judge his people as
one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a ser-
pent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth
the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall hack-
ward." This prophecy was accomplished in the
person of Samson, who descended from Dan. It
is worthy farther remark, that though in the first
instance of Dan there were no very promising
prospects of a numerous race, Dan himself having
but one son, (Gen. xvi. 23.) yet, at the children of
Israel's leaving Egypt, the tribe of Dan amounted
to " threescore and two thousand, seven hundred
men," all that were able to go forth to war. (Num.
i. 38.)
DANCE and DANCING. 1 think it not a little
important, for every serious reader of the Bible,
to have proper ideas of the Scripture meaning of
dancing, and therefore it would have been wrong,
in a work of this kind, to have passed it by.
It is very evident, that dancing formed, some-
times, a part in the religious duties of the He-
brews. Hence we read, (Ps. cxlix. 3.) " Let them
praise his name in the dance." And David is said,
(2 Sam. vi. 14.) to have danced before the Lord.
Yea, the Lord himself is represented, (Jer. xxxi.
4.) as comforting his people with this assurance,
** that they should again go forth in the dances of
them that make merry." All which very evidently
proves, that the dancing spoken of in Scripture
totally differed from that vain, frivolous, and idle,
not to say sinful, custom of dancing practised in
modern times. It should seem to have been used
among the people of God in a solemn manner,
though, no doubt, accompanied with bursts of holy
joy and praise. Hence, when " Miriam the pro-
phetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her
hand, and all the women went after her with timbrels
and with dances," at the triumph over the ene-
mies of God and the church at the Red sea, we
are told, that she answered them in holy song —
vol. vi. o
194
u Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed glo-
riously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown
into the sea." (Exod. xv. 20, 21.)
Some have thought, that the holy dances of the
Scripture were by way of resembling the motions
of the heavenly bodies, as if in the joy of the
heart, in any renewed instances of God's grace
and mercy manifested to the people, they looked
up to heaven, and endeavoured by action of the
body, as well as the going forth of the soul in
praise, to testify their sense of the divine good-
ness. And certain it is, that when the heart is
under very strong impressions of the Lord's spe-
cial favour, there will be an involuntary motion of
the whole frame. Even in modern times we have
heard of whole congregations, such as the Jumpers
in Wales, and the Shakers (so called) in America,
whose devotions have been marked with action
as well as voice. Yea, the Holy Ghost hath testi-
fied of certain instances where " smiting the thigh,
and stamping the foot," have been observed as so-
lemn tokens towards the Lord. (See Jer. xxxi. 19.
Ezek. vi. 11.) But all these are so foreign to
what is now known by the term dancing, that they
differ in every point but the name.
I cannot dismiss this article without adding, that
it were devoutly to be wished every parent of the
rising generation would seriously consider to what
danger of seduction they are preparing their little
ones, when sending them forth to the dance. Who
shall calculate the numberless instances of the kind,
which dancing, by inflaming the passions, hath
given birth to in modern life ! (See a solemn ac-
count of such parents, and such children, with the
issue of both, Job, xxi. 11 — 13.)
DANIEL. The prophet of the Lord. His name is
very significant, meaning, the judgment of God.
DA
195
Daniel was descended from the royal family of Da-
vid, and was carried away captive to Babylon when
quite a youth. The Chaldeans artfully gave him
the name of Belteshazzar, which signifies, master
or lord of the treasure ; by way, it is most likely,
of causing- him to forget the Lord God of his fathers.
(See Dan. i. 7.)
We have this man's history in his writings, and
in the accounts given of him by Ezek. xiv. 14. for
his great sanctity of life and manners. And his
wisdom was so highly esteemed, that it became
proverbial to denote a wise man by calling him Da-
niel. Hence, the prophet Ezekiel, (chap, xxviii. 3.)
speaking-, by the Lord's command, to the prince of
Tyrus, speaks of his vanity and pride, as if he
thought himself wiser than Daniel.
The prophecies of Daniel concerning- the Mes-
siah were so bright and clear, that the modern
Jews endeavoured to call in question their authen-
ticity, but without effect. In fact, the correspond-
ing- fulfilment of the prophecy with the prediction,
becomes the bestand most decided testimony to then-
truth ; for this is the seal of God the Holy Ghost.
The death of this prophet, in the place, and time,
and manner, is not known. Some have thought,
that he returned to Judea with the captives that
returned with Ezra; but the word of God hath not
noticed it, which renders it improbable. It is
enough for us to be blessed with his ministry, in
his inspired writings, while he lived, and to rest
assured, that he died in the faith of that glorious
Saviour, whose advent, and sufferings, and death,
he was commissioned by the Lord so clearly to de-
scribe. This is enough for us to know. And the
voice John heard from heaven concerning all such
is conclusive and satisfactory. (See Rev. xiv. 13.)
DARKNESS. In Scripture language the word
o2
196 U A
darkness is variously used. In the natural sense
of the word, it means the obscurity, such as is de-
scribed at the original state of things, when Jeho-
vah went forth in acts of creation. It is said,
" darkness was on the face of the deep." (Gen. i. 2.)
In a spiritual sense, darkness is frequently made
use of in Scripture to denote the blindness and ig-
norance of the mind, by reason of sin. Hence Paul,
when speaking of the conversion of the church at
Corinth, saith, " God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath sinned into our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. iv. 6.)
The darkness of the grave, and the darkness of
hell, are both also spoken of in Scripture. (Job x.
21, 22. Matt. xxii. 13.) The darkness which took
place at the death of Christ, and which lasted from
the sixth to the ninth hour, differed from all these,
and was among the miracles which marked that
momentous event. Profane writers, as well as
the sacred Scriptures, have it upon record. Dio-
nysius the Areopagite, in his epistle to Polycarp,
makes mention of it with decided convictions on his
mind, that the event was supernatural. And ano-
ther writer, Suidas, relates, that the same Diony-
sius said concerning it, that God either suffered,
or took part with one that did.
But what are all the testimonies of profane writers
to those which God the Holy Ghost gives of it?
Some have thought, that this supernatural darkness
was the Father's frown at the Jews' cruelty, in cru-
cifying Christ. For my part, I believe it to have
been the very reverse. For never was the Father
more glorified than by those sufferings of the Lord
Jesus. Never was Christ more glorified than by
those sufferings. Then it was that Scripture was
fulfilled, and Jesus set, as Jehovah's King, " upon
his holy hill of Zion." (Ps. ii. G.)
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What was it, this darkness then, under these
views, meant to imply ? Surely, that Jesus the Son
of God, when becoming- the sinner's Surety, shall
do all, and suffer all, the sinner deserved, and m*ist
have borne for ever, had not Christ interposed.
Darkness, yea, darkness to be felt, shall be in the
Surety's lot. Christ is now lifted up a spectacle be-
tween heaven and earth. The sinner's Surety is
now appearing as one forsaken of both, and merit-
ing- the favour of neither. He is now suspended on
the cross in the air, to represent his territories, who
isthe "Prince of the power of the air." (Ephes. ii. 2.)
The cataracts of divine wrath were now opened.
Christ is beheld in the very character he had taken
at the call of God the Father; first, made sin, and
then,a curse, (see these Scriptures, 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal.
iii. 13.) then follows, darkness, soul-trial, and death.
It was not necessary the sinner's Surety should go
down into hell, to suffer there the torments of the
damned : it is not the place that constitutes the
suffering, but the manner : and here the judgment
due to the sinner seized him. He saith himself, " The
sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of hell
g-at hold upon me." (Ps. cxvi. 3.) Surely, if ever
the face of hell was seen on earth, or the darkness
of hell known, it was on that day. Hence, when
the whole was passed, and this eclipse gone by, and
day-light brake in again upon Jesus, he cried with
a loud voice, u It is finished." (John xix. 30.) Reader!
those cries of the Lord Jesus on the cross, during-
the dreadful darkness and desertion his soul en-
dured, may serve to teach us somewhat of those
eternal shrieks and cries of the damned, who are
cast out of God's presence for ever !
DATHAN. Son of Eliab, one of the rebels wkh
Korah. (Num. xvi. 1.) His name is derived from
Dath, rites.
IDS
D A
DAVID. The very important figure which David,
king of Israel, makes in Scripture, demands, that
in a work of this kind, he should not be overlooked.
His services, as a prophet of the Lord, and his
labours in the Scriptural writings which come to the
church with his name, render it highly needful to
notice him. But added to this, as a type of the
Lord Jesus, and the great Mediator bearing his
name, renders him still more endearing to our view.
His very name from Dud, to love, means, dear and
well-beloved ; and as a type of the ever-dear and
well-beloved Jesus, nothing could be more suited.
1 only beg the reader to observe concerning types
in general, and of him in particular, that it is only
in this very precise instance, in which the agree-
ment runs, that the word of God considers them ;
and consequently, ought to be considered by the
church. The Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh, is
spoken of as the seed of David ; and as such, the
covenant runs in his name. (See Ps. lxxxix. 34, 35.
2 Tim. ii. 8.)
DAUGHTER. I should not think it necessary to offer
any observation upon this name, if considered in
natural alliances only. But there is a great sweet-
ness in it, when read in Scripture in allusion to the
church. It is very blessed to perceive, that as the
Lord Jesus fills all relations to his church, and is,
in one and the same moment, her everlasting Father,
her Husband, and Brother, and Friend, so the
church is to Jesus, his daughter, his sister, his
spouse, his beloved, his fair-one, and the only one
of her mother. (Ps. xlv. 9, 10. Song vi. 9.) How
frequently do we find the Lord speaking of his
church under the endeared character of daughter.
u For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am
hurt." (Jer. viii. 21.) " Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
Behold, thy Kingcometh unto thee !" (Zech. ix. 9.
with Matt. xxi. 5.)
199
DEAD and DEATH. There is a threefold sense of
death; natural, spiritual, and eternal. That which
is natural, respects the separation of soul and body.
" The body without the Spirit is dead." (Jam. ii.
16.) Spiritual death means, the soul unquickened
by the Holy Ghost. "And you hath he quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Eph. ii. 1.)
And eternal death implies the everlasting- separa-
tion both of soul and body from God to all eternity.
u I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear
him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast
into hell ; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." (Luke
xii. 5.) See Hardness of heart.
DEBORAH. The eminent prophetess, whose his-
tory is recorded Judges iv. and v. She was the
wife of Lapidoth. Her name is probably from
Deborat, bee; perhaps, in allusion to the activity
of her mind. The Holy Ghost hath endeared
her memory, not only by the victory wrought by
her instrumentality, in the deliverance of Israel, but
by that divine hymn she sang-, and is left upon re-
record for the use of the church.
DEVIL. The accursed enemy of Christ and his
church. He is known in Scripture under a great
variety of names, all, more or less, expressive of
his character. Abaddon, and the angel of the bot-
tomless pit, (Rev. ix. 11.) Beelzebub, (Matt, xii .24.)
Belial, (2 Cor. vi. 15.) the Old Dragon, (Rev. xii. 3.)
the father of liars, (John. viii. 44.) Lucifer, (Isa. xiv.
12.) a murderer from the beginning, (John viii. 44.)
Serpent, (Isa. xxvii. 1.) Satan, (Job ii. 6.) the god
of this world, (2 Cor. iv. 4.) a roaring lion. (1 Pet.
v. 8.) See Satan.
DEW. The dew is a merciful provision the Lord
hath ordained for moistening the plants and other
productions of the earth in dry seasons, when there
is no rain. And it is supposed, that the dew of the
200 D O
night is exactly in proportion to the heat of the
day. But what I more particularly desire to notice
respecting the dew is, the gracious condescension
of Ihe Lord, in resembling his blessings on his
people to the figure of the dew. Hence, we read,
by his servant the prophet Hosea, how the Lord
saith, " I will be as the dew unto Israel." (Hos.
xiv. 5.) And how is that? The Lord answereth
in another Scripture. " It tarrieth not for man, nor
waiteth for the sons of men." (Micah v. 7.) No
predisposing cause in men, no, not even the wants
or miseries of men, prompting the infinite mind of
God to bestow his blessings. His love is before
our misery, and his mercy makes no pause for our
merit. Hence, we find numberless Scriptures
speaking of the Lord's mercies under this figure.
Jesus saith to the church, in a time when visiting
her, u My head is filled with dew, and my locks with
the drops of the night." (Song v. 2.) Hence, the
resurrection of his people by grace, as hereafter to
glory, is said to be " as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out her dead." (Isa. xxvi. 19.) mean-
ing that as from the rich dews which fall upon the
earth, the dry, withered, and apparently dead plants
of the winter shall again bud, and break forth in the
spring, so the dead and dying state of Christ's
redeemed shall, from the dew of his birth, " revive as
the corn, and grow as the vine ." Hence, the doctrines
of grace are said to be of the same refreshing qua-
lity as the dew. " My doctrine (said Moses,) shall
drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew,
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the
showers upon the grass." (Deut. xxxii. 2. and
xxxiii. 13.) See Rain.
DOVE. It would be unnecessary to offer any obser-
vations simply on this bird, as it is in itself, but as it
is made use of by the Scriptures of God, as figura-
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201
tive of the Holy Ghost, and also by the Lord Jesus,
to denote the loveliness of his church, it merits our
attention.
It was in the form of a dove that the Holy Ghost
descended upon the blessed Jesus at his baptism.
(Matt. xiii. 6.) And it was the dove that brought the
tidings of the waters being assuaged into the ark,
by the olive branch in his mouth. (Gen. viii. 12.) And
Christ compares his church to the beauty and gentle-
ness of the dove. (Song. ii. 1 4.) And the comparison
is certainly very just ; for as the dove in nature is a
very beautiful, and clean, and affectionate creature,
so the church in grace, when washed in Christ's
blood, and justified in Christ's righteousness, and
made comely from the comeliness her Lord hath
put upon her, is all-glorious within, and hath no
spot, or blemish, but is without blame before Jesus
in love. Hence, the Psalmist sweetly sings of the
church — " Though she hath lain among the pots,
yet shall she be like the wings of a dove, covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold."
(Ps. lxviii. 13.)
DRAGON. One of the names of the devil. (Rev.
xii. 9.) Hence, in allusion to the Lord Jesus
Christ's victory over hell, the Psalmist saith, " Thou
shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion
and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet."
(Psal. xci. 13.)
DREAMS. The visions of the night are called
dreams. And before the more open revelations by
the Lord Jesus Christ, certain it is, that the Lord
not unfrequently made use of their ministry in the
church. Hence, the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob
were thus exercised. (Gen. xv ; xxviii.) And
Joseph's dreams, when related to his father and
brethren, were made instrumental to excite the
envy of his brethren. (Gen. xxxvii. 5, 6, &cc.) Yea,
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the Lord declared concerning dreams, while the
church was in the wilderness, that he would make
himself known to his servants the prophets in this
way. (Num. xii. 6.) And even in the days of the
New Testament dispensation, dreams were not in
disuse for occasionally revealing the mind of the
Lord. Concerning the safety of the child Jesus,
by removing him into Egypt, this was directed by
an angel appearing by night to Joseph in a dream.
(Matt. ii. 13.)
But while the Lord was thus pleased, by the
means of dreams, to make known to his people, as
occasion might require, the purposes of his will, he
was no less pleased to direct his servants the pro-
phets, by open revelation, to guard against all im-
position from lying dreams, and false visions of
men's own forming. The prophet Jeremiah was
taught thus to declare the Lord's mind concerning
these things, " I have heard what the prophets said,
that prophecy lies in my name ; saying, I have
dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be
in the heart of the prophets, that prophecy lies ?
Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their heart,
which think to cause my people to forget my name
by their dreams." (Jer. xxiii. 25 — 27.) In the
open day-light of that full revelation the gospel
hath brought, the greatest caution should be ob-
served respecting attention to dreams. Upon
every occasion of the sort, the faithful in Christ
Jesus would do well to remember the Lord's di-
rection upon another subject, in respect to tbem
that sought after familiar spirits ; u to the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them."
(Isa. viii. 19, 20.) Far be it from any one to limit
the Holy One of Israel ; but by this reference
upon all exercises of the mind concerning dreams
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203
the children of the Lord will be preserved from er-
ror. To say that dreams are wholly done away under
the gospel dispensation, and that the Lord never
doth speak by them to his people, would be oppos-
ing a well known Scripture concerning- them,
which wholly related to the latter-day ministry.
The prophet Joel was commissioned to declare,
and the apostle Peter explained what he said, in
direct reference to the days of the manifestation of
the Holy Ghost, that the Lord would in the last
days, "pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh ; and
that in consequence of his mercy, their sons and
their daughters should prophecy, and their old
men dream dreams, and their young men see vi-
sions." (Joel ii. 28. Acts ii. 17.) So that to say their
entire use is done away, would be presuming to be
wise above what is written. At the same time to
suppose, that the common and ordinary dreams of
the night are intended to direct the mind of the
Lord's people, would be to lessen the divine au-
thority of God's holy word, which, in all cases, is
able to make us " wise unto salvation, through the
faith that is in Christ Jesus."
The exercise of the mind in dreams is certainly
among the wonders we meet with in life, which are
not the least surprising, though the least to be ex-
plained. We know that the whole body is perfectly
inactive, unconscious, and asleep ; while there is a
somewhat in us, or belonging to us, that is, at
times, very busily engaged and employed. We
talk apparently with others, and we hear them talk
with us. We travel far and near ; transact great
concerns ; not unfrequently converse with persons,
whom in our waking hours we know to be dead ;
but yet in sleep sometimes forget this and some-
times not. We hear their voice and perfectly
recollect it ; their person, manner, and the like,
204
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are as familiar to us as when living. Yea, some-
times circumstances of a similar nature are brought
before us in our sleep, both with the dead and liv-
ing whom we never knew. These, with number-
less other particularities, are among the dreams of
the night, of which the body, asleep and torpid,
is wholly unconscious ; but of which the mind or
thinking faculty, or the somewhat indescribable, be
it what it may, is most earnestly engaged in, and
highly interested about. Who shall say what
this is? Who shall describe it? Who shall de-
fine its use ? And there is another very striking
particularity in dreams, that while it carries the
fullest conviction to that thinking faculty, that
somewhat indescribable being acted upon, in a
way and manner no man can explain, serves to
prove, that the whole is somewhat more than the
effect of fancy, though not unfrequently the tri-
fling nature of the thing itself is as trifling. I
mean when persons far remote from each other,
have one and the same dream, or are apparently
engaged in one and the same concern in that
dream, without any previous communication on the
subject ; yea, perhaps without any previous know-
ledge of each other.
And let me add another particularity as striking
as any, concerning the exercise of the mind, or
thinking faculty, in dreams, beyond the power of
any man to account for ; namely, when we receive
instructions or help on any point, during our
dreaming hours, from a person or persons, then
supposed to be with us, which, without whose aid.
we could not in ourselves have accomplished. I
will beg to illustrate this, by the relation of a
plain matter of fact, which I had from a friend of
mine, with whom I lived many years in the habits of
great intimacy : indeed, the same, more or less,
DR
205
may be found perhaps in every man's experience,
on one point or other.
My friend was a good classic, and conversant
with the best Latin authors. In one of his dreams
lie fancied himself reading- one of his favourite
books, which he was in the habit of constant read-
ing, when a passage occurred that he could not
construe. He tried again and again to translate it,
but all to no purpose. Mortified with himself, he
was about to close the book and relinquish the at-
tempt, when a person looking over his shoulder
gently upbraided him on his dulness (Luke xxiv.
35.) and construed the passage to him. Now the
question is, who was this looker-on, for he himself
was asleep, and alone ?
The reader will sadly mistake my meaning, from
all that I have here said upon dreams, if he thinks I
am bringing forward ajustification of that farrago of
unconnected, trifling, and impertinent stuff", which
some make of dreams. Too many there are,
whose waking hours are little better than the
merest unmeaning dreams of the night. But mak-
ing all due allowance for such things, certain it is,
that in the early ages of the world, the Lord
was pleased to make use of the ministry of dreams.
And though under the gospel we have a more sure
guide to take heed unto, yet it were to limit the
Holy One of Israel to say, that they now are never
used, and their ministry hath totally ceased. No
doubt, the greatest jealousy maybe proper to ex-
ercise concerning them ; and certainly, we must be
safe in rejecting them in all points, where they arc
not in perfect agreement with the glorious gospel
of the ever-blessed God.
DRINK Is sometimes put figuratively in Scrip-
ture, to imply the thirst and desire of the soul
after Christ. Hence, we find the Lord Jesus saying
206
D W
"If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink."
(John vii. 37.) And again, u He that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and
I in him." (John vi. 56.) In like manner, at the
close of Scripture, the coming of Christ is de-
scribed under the similitude of drink. (Rev. xxii.
17.)
DWELL ALONE. This is a Scripture phrase of
great beauty, concerning the Lord's heritage.
The Lord compelled this declaration to be made
out of the mouth of Balaam, when blessing the
children of God while he wished to curse them.
" The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be
reckoned among the nations." (Num. xxiii. 9.)
And I hardly know, in all the Scripture, a more
blessed mark of divine discrimination. Very much
it were to be wished, that the Lord's people would
be always on the look out for it, as a token and
badge of their high calling in Christ Jesus.
That the Lord's people have, from all eternity,
been so appointed is certain. They have dwelt
alone in God the Father's gracious purpose in giv-
ing them to his Son. They have dwelt alone in
the mind of Jesus, when he stood forth as their
Surety, and Head, and Husband, before all worlds.
And they have dwelt alone in the view and love
of God the Holy Ghost, when making them the
objects of his grace. Hence therefore, as they
dwell alone in the privileges of the everlasting
covenant, and as the members of the mystical
body of Christ, so are they supposed to dwell alone
in their affections, pursuits, manners, habits, and
daily delights. They may, and they do, hear that
voice John heard from heaven concerning them,
when calling them to dwell alone, and to have no
connection with the unfruitful works of darkness.
" Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par-
E A 207
takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues." (Rev. xviii. 4.)
E A
EAGLE. I cannot pass over this article in our Con-
cordance, in as much as we find frequent mention
made of the eagle in Scripture. And I do this
the rather from the singularity of it, and espe-
cially in the way in which it is used. I mean,
because it is declared in the Levitical law to be
unclean ; yea, all the different species of the
eagle, including the vulture and the hawk, which
are both of the eagle kind. (See Lev. xi. 13 — 16.)
Now it is certain, that the Lord, (by which I
apprehend is meant the Lord Jesus Christ in our
nature,) condescends to make use of the similitude
of an eagle, in describing his care over his people,
when he saith, " I bare you on eagle's wings, and
brought you unto myself." (Exod. xix. 4. Deut.
xxxii. 11.) Is there not something of a most
interesting nature implied in those affections of the
Lord, beside the protection here set forth as
shewn his people? As the eagle is among the
creatures of uncleanness ; is there not an allusion
to the Lord's taking our uncleanness upon him,
when he thus speaks of bearing his redeemed on
eagle's wings ? The reader will observe, I do
but ask the question, and not determine the
matter. But as we well know, and all redeemed
souls rejoice in the glorious consolation, it was
Jesus both u bare our sins, and carried our sor-
rows, when the Lord Jehovah laid on him the
iniquity of us all," the Lord's making use of one
of the unclean creatures, in a similitude to himself,
may not be supposed unaptly to represent this un-
208
£ A
equalled mercy ? Connect with this view, what
the gospel saith, (2 Cor. v. 21. and Gal. iii. 13.)
and let the reader judge the fitness of the obser-
vation. He, who in such infinite and unequalled
love and grace, became both sin and a curse for
his people, might go on in the humiliation, to com-
pare himself to the eagle, when made sin for us ; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The beautiful comparison, made in allusion to
this bird, in providing safety for her young, to
that of the Lord Jesus carrying his people as on
eagle's wings, is too striking hastily to pass it by.
(Deut. xxxii. 11, 12.) The eagle's stirring up
her nest, fluttering over her young, spreading
abroad her wings ; taking them and bearing them
on her wings ; are beautiful descriptions, and
which it seems, in the case of the eagle's care
over her brood, is literally the case. The young
eagles are much disposed to sleep. The old bird
therefore, rouseth them up, by disturbing them in
their nest ; when they are awakened, she flutter-
ed over them, spreading abroad her wings, to
teach them how to use theirs, and how to fly.
And until they are able to soar above all danger
in the air, she carrieth them on her wings, that
they may in due season use their own. Such, but
in an infinitely higher degree of wisdom, love,
and tenderness, doth Jesus, by his offspring. The
Lord stirred them up from sleeping in the dangers
of Egypt, and taught them how " to flee from the
wrath to come." And the Lord is doing so now, in
bringing up all his redeemed out of the Egypt of
sin and death in this world.
But the most beautiful part of the representation
remains yet to be noticed. The eagle is the only
bird that carries her young upon her wings. All
other birds use their talons for bearing up their
209
little brood. Now, when the Lord Jesus useth this
similitude, it teacheth us that it is impossible they
can fall whom he bears ; for they are on the wings
and above, and not beneath, and like those birds,
who catch up their young in their talons, and in
their flight may drop them. Moreover, no weapon
from beneath can reach the young, in the care of
the eagle, without tirst piercing the old bird. So
nothing can touch Christ's little ones without first
destroying Christ. Was there ever a similitude
more beautiful, lovely, and comfortable ? Let me
only add, to this figure of the Old Testament
church, that precious one also, of the Lord Jesus
in the New. I mean, when to the strength of the
eagle, Jesus subjoins the affection of the hen;
" saying, How often would I have gathered you, even
as an hen gathers her chickens under her wings ! "
(Matt, xxiii. 37.) There is another similitude
made use of respecting the church, in allusion to
the eagle. The prophet Micah, (chap. i. 16.)
speaks of the boldness of the eagle. And some
have asserted, that in old age, the eagle is renew-
ed with youth. Whether this be so, or not ; or
whether the moulting time, common to other birds
every year, is only once experienced by the eagle,
and that in old age, I will not, for I cannot, deter-
mine ; but certain it is, that the Lord himself makes
use of the similitude, to describe his people by.
In one of the sweetest promises, the Lord thus
comforts them, "He giveth power to the faint, and
to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the
young men shall utterly fall ; but they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and
not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."
(Isa.xl. 27.totheend.) And while the Lord thuscom-
VOL. VI. p
210
forts his church with the assurance of the renewings
of spiritual strength, like the eagle in nature, the
church is described as praising God under the view
of renewing grace, in the same figure : " Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
his holy name : who forgive th all thine iniquities,
and healeth all thy diseases: who redeemeth thy
life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies : who satisfieth thy
mouth with good things, so that thy youth is re-
newed as the eagle's." (Ps. ciii. 1 — 5.)
EAR and EARS. In Scripture, such frequent men-
tion is made of the hearing ear, and the uncircum-
cised in heart and ears, that it ought to be noticed
in a work of this kind. In Scripture language, to
uncover the ear, (1 Sam. xx. 2. 13.) as it is render-
ed in the margin of the Bibles, is to reveal some-
what particularly to a certain person, or persons,
which, in general, to others, is not made known.
And hence the Lord Jesus himself saith by the spirit
of prophecy, (Ps. xl. 6.) Mine ears hast thou open-
ed. So again, Isa. 1. 5. " The Lord God hath opened
mine ear, and I was not rebellious." In the Jewish
church, it was the custom, and among the appoint-
ments of the Lord himself, when a servant, after
six years' services, being freed by the law, so loved
his master, that he would not leave him, he was to
have his ear bored with an awl unto the door post,
as a token of a free and voluntary service ; and
then to serve for ever. (Exod. xxi. 2. 5.) And in al-
lusion to this, for this was a beautiful type of the
Lord Jesus Christ), the Lord Jesus saith, Mine ears
hast thou opened, or as the margin of the Bible hath
it, mine ears hast thou digged. (See Ps. xl. 6.) The
apostle Paul commenting upon this passage, in
quoting it, gives a free and full translation, and ren-
ders it, A body hast thou given me, or prepared me.
E A
211
(Heb. x. 5.) And certain it is, that the lesser, of bor-
ing- the ear, implies the greater, of preparing the
whole body. But how delightful is it to make in-
terpretation, of what the Jewish servant said re-
specting the house of his servitude, in allusion to
the Lord Jesus in the house of his ! who, as the
servant of Jehovah (for such he fully became, when
he became our Surety), might be said thus to ex-
press himself, I love my master, I love my wife, my
children ; I will not go out free. Surely, it is bless-
ed to eye Christ as our Surety, constantly repre-
sented by types in the Old Testament Scripture. As
the uncovering the ear is a Scripture expression, to
denote divine teaching, and the opening the heart
and understanding, so the word of God abounds
with figures and similitudes to represent the reverse .
They are said to be uncircumcised in heart and
ears, to whom the word of the Lord is unprofitable.
Their ears are said to be heavy ; to be waxed gross,
and dull in hearing, and the like. (Jer. vi. 10.) Hence
no less than seven times in the Scripture, as if to
denote the awfulness of such a state, the dreadful
condition of the ungodly is described under those
characters. (See Isa. vi. 9, 10. Matt. xiii. 14, 15-
Mark iv. 12. Luke viii. 10. John xii. 40. Acts
xxviii. 26, 27. Rom. xi. 8.)
EAR-RING. We find that in the Old Testament
scripture, the ear-ring was a token and pledge of
overtures to marriage. Thus Abraham's servant's
first present, in his master's name, to Rebekah,
was a golden ear-ring. (Gen. xxiv. 22.) And hence
Laban, her brother's, invitation, in consequence
thereof, (ver. 30, 31.) In allusion to this, we find the
Lord Jesus speaking of his church, u I put a jewel on
thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beau-
tiful crown upon thine head." (Ezek. xvi. 12.) And
certain it is, that when the Lord Jesus is going forth
p 2
212
in the graces of his Holy Spirit, to make his people
willing in the day of his power ; he doth all this
and infinitely more. Yea, all the persons of the
Godhead give of their golden blessings, the most
precious jewels. "We will make thee borders of
gold, with studs of silver." (Song i. 11.)
EARNEST. This word is of great importance in the
Scripture tongue, applied as it is, with peculiar
emphasis, to the work of the Holy Ghost upon the
heart. The apostle, speaking of the wonderful gifts
of God's grace, saith, " Now he that hath wrought us
for the self-same thing is God, who hath also given
unto us the earnest of the Spirit." (2 Cor. v. 5.) And
elsewhere, he calls it the earnest of our inheritance-
(Ephes. i. 14.) It becomes the Lord's pledge, the
Lord's token, and covenant of his love to the soul.
Sweet evidence of divine faithfulness !
EARTH. There are many senses in which this word
is . used in holy Scripture. In general, it means the
gross matter which forms a bed, and sustains the
life of trees, and fruit, and of vegetable life. God
called the dry land earth. (Gen. i. 10.) Sometimes it
is put for the people, and sometimes for their pro-
perty. The earth, it is said, was filled with violence.
(Gen. vi. 13.) And respecting property, we are told,
that while the heavens are the Lord's, the earth
hath he given to the children of men. (Ps. cxv. 16.)
I have somewhere read of the presumptuous gift of
one of the princes of the earth, assuming to himself
this grant, making a deed of gift to one of his fa-
vorites, of a certain portion of the land, the charter
of which ran in words to this effect : " I give all
that is from heaven to the centre of the earth,
including the minerals in the bowels of it," &c.
Poor vain man! when shortly after, all that he could
embrace of the earth, or the earth him, was just his
own breadth and length to lie down upon for cor-
213
ruption and to mingle with in the dust ! The word
earth is also spoken of by way of a natural and moral
sense. Hence, in opposition to spirit, the Scripture
describes the first man as of the earth, earthy ;
while the second man is declared to be, the Lord
from heaven. And Jesus himself defines the essen-
tial difference, — he that is of the earth, speaketh of
the earth, he that cometh from heaven, is above all.
(See 1 Cor. xv. 47, 48. John iii. 31.)
EARTHQUAKE. The first account we have of an
earthquake is in the book of Numbers, chap. xvi.
28 — 34. in the instance of God's judgments upon
the rebellion of Korah, and his company. And it
should seem from hence, but a manner of just con-
clusion, that earthquakes, notwithstanding that
modern philosophers pretend to account for them
by physical causes, are not so, but special indica-
tions of the Lord's displeasure. It is somewhat
remarkable, that in the ten plagues of Egypt,
this was not one. For of all alarming events, no
doubt, the earthquake is the greatest. The Scrip-
ture relates another earthquake in the days Uzziah,
king of Judah. (See Amos i. 1. Zech. xiv. 5.)
And a third took place at the death of Christ. (Matt,
xxvii. 51.) The Father in the church, St. Cyril,
relates, that the rocks which were split on Mount
Calvary on this occasion were visible in his days.
Matthew tells us, that when the centurion saw this
earthquake, it convinced him of the Godhead of
Christ, (ver. 54.)
EATING, and TO EAT. The custom of eating in
the Eastern world, totally differed from our customs
and manners. It was always in a reclining posture.
And there was great attention paid to the company,
even in their ordinary meals. The patriarchs ate
by themselves. And when our fathers were in
Egypt, we are told, that it was an abomination for
E A
the Egyptians to sit. at meat with the Hebrews.
(Gen. lxiii. 32.) It is our happiness that these dis-
tinctions are done away. Jesus received sinners,
and ate with them. Well it is for us he did. (Luke,
xv. 2.) How blessedly the apostle speaks on the
subject : " The kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost." (Rom. xiv. 17.)
It may not be unacceptable to the readers, for
whom I particularly intend this Concordance, to set
before them an account of the extraordinary atten-
tion the ancient Jews observed in their seasons of
meals, to a scrupulous exactness. It may be more
than gratifying as an history, for it may be profitable
in beholding what was unimportant among them,
while we gather improvement from what was be-
coming. The view of both may be useful.
The Jews never sat down to the table until that
they had first washed their hands. Hence, their
surprise at the freedom of Christ and his disciples
on this occasion. (Matt. xv. 2. Mark vii. 2 — 4.)
When they have finished their repast, they wash
again. None of the company begin to eat until
that the governor ;or master of the feast hath broken
bread, and craved a blessing. One of the fathers
gives us the usual words of this blessing. The
words were — " Blessed be thou, O Lord, our God,
the King of the world, for it is thou who produceth
the bread of the earth." All present say, Amen.
And the master of the table generally helps the
guests, however numerous they may be. When
they have eaten, he takes the vessel of wine in his
right hand, saying as before — u Blessed be thou, O
Lord our God, the King of the world, who hast pro-
duced the fruit of the vine." The Amen is, as before,
repeated. Then is generally repeated the twenty-
third Psalm. There is always reserved a portion
215
of bread after their meals, which is suffered to
remain on the table. Was not this with an eye to
Christ, the bread of life? (John vi. 48.) A cup is
usually washed at the close of the entertainment,
and is filled with wine, when the governor or master
of the feast saith, elevating it to the view of the
whole company, " Let us bless him, of whose be-
nefits we have been partaking." The company an-
swer, "Blessed be he who hath heaped his favours on
us, and by his goodness hath now fed us." This is fol-
lowed up with prayer,in which is generally expressed
the Lord's goodness to Israel, beseeching him to pity
Jerusalem and his temple, to restore the throne of
David, and to send Elias and the Messiah, and to
deliver them out of their long captivity : all answer
Amen. A Psalm is again recited, and the cup of
wine is given by the master of the table to every
one. The table is then cleared, and the service
finisheth. I have thought it worth rehearsing this
custom of the ancient Jews, because it serves to
shew how much devotion mingled even with their
ordinary meals. I take shame and reproach to
myself in the recollection, how such conduct puts
to the blush modern Christians. At what table
shall we go to find so much piety ? They looked
forward but to the Messiah to come. We profess
to believe that he is come, and hath restored all
things. Blessed Lord Jesus ! how dost thou daily
witness the graceless tables of thousands that call
themselves after thee, Christians, but where not the
vestige of the Christian is to be found.
EBAL. A mountain in the lot of Ephrahn over
against mount Gerizim. The name Ebal signifies,
somewhat old and confused, from Balah, old. It
was the famous spot from whence the curses were
pronounced on the breaches of the law. And the
place seemed to be well suited for this purpose, for
216 E B
it was a barren unfruitful spot. Whereas, Gerizim,
which lay opposite to it, and from whence the bless-
ings were delivered, was a beautiful and fruitful
country. (Deut. xi. 29; xxvii. 4. Josh.viii. 30 — 32.)
EBED-MELECH. This man is spoken of with ho-
nourable testimony in Scripture, for his service to
the prophet Jeremiah. His name shews who he
was, Ebed, a servant, Melech, to the king-. (See
Jer. xxxviii. 7 — 13.)
EBENEZER. A well known name, and I believe,
often used by the Lord's people, after the exam-
ple of Samuel, upon numberless occasions in life.
If the reader will consult 1 Sam. vii. he will be
enabled to enter into the Spirit of the expression,
if so be the Lord be his teacher. And should the
Lord give him also a right view of the subject, he
will discover that the mercy was not confined to
the days of Samuel, but in all ages of the church,
the faithful can, and do, find causes daily to set up
their Ebenezers, u to the praise of the glory of his
grace, who maketh them accepted in the Beloved."
Even in the moment of writing do I find cause to set
up the Ebenezer of the morning, " hitherto hath
the Lord helped !* And, reader, what a sweet ad-
ditional thought is it, in the full assurance of faith,
to refresh the soul, that he who hath hitherto helped,
and doth help, will help, through grace, in life, and
in glory, to all eternity. I only add, under this
article, that there is a great strength of expression
in the word Ebenezer. It is a compound meaning
Eben, or Aben, a stone, Jehovah laid in Zion, " in
whom whosoever believeth,shall never be confound-
ed." (Compare Isa. xxviii. 16. with 1 Pet. ii. 6 — 8.)
ECCLESIASTES. One of the books of Solomon,
and so called by the Septuagint. But it is worthy
remark, that the first verse runs in this form, " The
words of Coheleth the son of David ;" though the
word is feminine, and is as if it is said, she who
217
speaks. But that it is Solomon who is the writer,
and who is describing in many parts of it himself,
there can be no question, since we have in it so am-
ple an account of his riches and treasure, and at
the same time, of his discovery of the vanity of all.
EDEN. The garden of our first parents. Eden, means
delights, (Gen. ii. 8.)
EGYPT. A well known kingdom in Scripture his-
tory, from whence the church, under the Lord,
made their first Exodus. The believer in Christ
knows also what it is to have been brought up in
Egypt, and brought out of the Egypt of the soul.
ELDAD. See Medad.
ELDERS. In the church of the Old Testament,
elders were the fathers of the tribes, and had the
government in a great measure committed to them.
Hence when the Lord appeared unto Moses at the
bush, with a view to reveal himself in the delive-
rance of the people ; he said, " Go and gather the
elders of Israel together." (Exod. iii. 16.) In the
New Testament church, the term seems to be ge-
nerally applied to fathers and governors of fa-
milies. Peter called himself an elder. (1 Pet. v. 1.)
ELEAZOR. Son of Aaron, and his successor in the
priestly office. His history commences from the
death of his father Aaron. (See Num. xx. 23, to
the end.) His name is very expressive, help of God,
from Hazar help, and El, God.
ELECT. We meet with this word so very often in
Scripture, that one might have been led to conclude,
that it would have been received in the church with
implicit faith, referring the act itself, as becometh
sinful ignorant creatures to do, into the sovereignty
and good pleasure of God. It is in the first and
highest instance spoken of, and applied to, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as the Christ of God. (Isa. xlii. 1. with
Matt. xii. 17, 18. &c.) It is specially spoken of
218
the church of Israel. (Isa. xlv. 4 ; lxix. 22.) It is
also spoken of in relation to the Gentile church, ga-
thered out of all nations. (Matt.xxiv. 31. Rom. xi.5.
Tit. i. 1.) And what endears this sovereign act of
grace the more is, that it is all in, and for, Christ.
(Eph. i. 4.) The Scriptures uniformly declaring
while in the very moment of establishing the truth it-
self, that it is all of free grace, no merit, no preten-
sions of merit here or hereafter, becoming in the
least instrumental to this distinguishing mercy, but
wholly resulting from the sovereign will and pur-
pose of the Lord. (Deut. vii. 1. Rom. ix. 11 — 16.
2 Tim. i. 9. Ephes. i. 6.) Hence the everlasting se-
curity of the church, and of the blessings of the
church, are all sure, certain and irrevocable. (Rom.
viii. 33.) Here also the interest the Lord takes in his
church, and all her concerns. Do any afflict them?
he saith, " Shall not God avenge his own elect who
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them ? I tell you that he will avenge them
speedily. (Luke xviii.7, 8.) Yea, the Lord declares,
that he will " shorten the days of affliction for the
elects' sake." (See Matt. xxiv. 22.) And these
blessings are heightened in their personal nature.
John speaks of an elect lady and her sister. (2 John
i. 13.) And Peter speaks of the elect church at
Babylon. (1 Pet. v. 13.) I must not overlook, un-
der this article, what is said in Scripture of elect
angels, also. (1 Tim. v. 21.) No doubt they owe
their steadfastness to Christ, as their Head and So-
vereign, in election and dominion ; while Christ's
seed, the church, are preserved by union. But
without this preservation in Christ, by election, an-
gels are no more secure from falling than men,who
have fallen. For as some angels have fallen, so
might all, if not upheld by a superior power to
themselves. For as we read, (Jobiv, 18.) " God
219
putteth no trust in his servants, and his angels he
chargeth with folly," that is, with weakness ; so it
is plain that their preservation is not in themselves,
but in the Lord. And when we read of the elect
angels, it implies their election, and upholding in
Christ. Think what a glorious, blessed Almighty
Lord the christian's Lord is ! Well might the
apostle Peter, under the deep impression of this
sacred truth made upon his heart, cry out with
holy rapture, " Elect according to the fore-know-
ledge of God the Father, through the sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be
multiplied.'' (1 Pet. i. 2.)
ELT. The High Priest, in the days of the judges.
(1 Sam. 2 — 11.) His name is very significant,
meaning, my God. The sin of Eli is remarkably
striking. And it teaches most powerfully. We
see in him a decided proof of the great danger
of consulting the feelings of nature, rather than
obeying the precepts of grace. His tenderness, as
a father, tempted him to lose sight of his reverence
for God. He therefore contented himself with
reproving his sons for their vileness, when he
should have publicly stript them of their office,
and banished them from his presence. And
though he was admonished of this evil conduct by
the child Samuel, speaking to him in a vision from
the Lord, yet we find no firmness to reform. And
though the Lord deferred the threatened punish-
ment of his two sons for near twenty and seven
years, yet he allowed them still to minister in the
service of the sanctuary. At length the judgment
came, and a most tremendous judgment it was.
(See Hophni, 1 Sam. iv. 12—22.) How different
from him, of whom it is said, " He did not
acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own chil-
dren!" (Deut. xxxiii. 9.)
220
EL
ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI. The reader
will not wish to pass over this well known cry of
Jesus on the cross ; but will be gratified with the
continued attention of it. Those words of Christ
are full of important signification ; and every pious
reader of his Bible ought to have a proper conception
of their meaning. They are partly in the Hebrew,
and partly in the Syriac tongue, and which, perhaps
occasioned the perverse misconstruction in some,
who supposed the Lord called Elias, when Jesus
said Eli. The prophet had said, " That the Lord
should roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth should
shake." (Joel iii. 16.) And hence we find that
prophecy fulfilled. The loud voice of Jesus was
not like one whose strength was gone, but rather
uttered in proof of what Jesus had said : u No
man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of
myself, I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my Father." (John x. 18.) The
words themselves seem to be a quotation from the
xxiind Psalm, 1st verse, thereby intimating, that
the prophet in that Psalm spake wholly of Christ.
This was highly important for the church to know.
And the meaning yet more important. The Holy
Ghost hath caused his servants the Evangelists,
to give the church the interpretation : Eli, Eli, lama,
are Hebrew ; Sabacthani, or Sabadetani, is Syriac.
Astonishing words for the only beloved of the Fa-
ther to utter ! Jesus had uttered no cry of pain
in the great tortures of his body ; neither do we
hear the meek Lamb of God complain of the
insults of the rabble, in the unequalled re-
proaches cast upon him. These, and every other
sorrow, seem to have been swallowed up and for-
gotten in the flood of divine wrath, which now
22J
opened like cataracts from heaven in the Father's
desertion. Who shall say what this was ? Who
is competent to describe the horrors of it, when
it induced such a cry in the soul agonies of Jesus ?
Well may every child of God pause over the
renewed reading- of it, and in the contemplation,
consider the love and tenderness of Jesus to his
people, who thus endured the being- forsaken of
his Father for a season, that they might not be
forsaken for ever. (Heb. v. 7 — 9.)
ELIJAH. Though the history of this highly favour-
ed servant of the Lord would afford much im-
provement to enlarge upon, according to the Scrip-
ture testimony concerning him, yet it would swell
this work to a size much beyond the limits intended,
for the writer to indulge himself in it. I have
therefore noticed this prophet, only with a view
to remark the greatness of his name, Elijah is a
compound word, including two of the names of
Jehovah. Eli, my God ; and Jah, the Lord. It
would be thought presumptuous to call our chil-
dren in the present hour by such names, in the
plain English of the words, but with the Hebrews
it was done in honour of the Lord God of their
fathers. And so particular do the pious fathers of
the Old Testament seem to have been, in naming
their children, that they studied to give them such
as might have some allusion to the Lord, or to
retain one of the letters of Jehovah in them. If
I venture to add another observation concerning
this great man, it would be but just to remark,
that in that memorable prophecy of Malachi, con-
cerning the coming of Elijah before the day of
Christ, (chap iv. 5.) though our Lord explained
this to his disciples, in making reference to the
spirit of Elias in the person of John the baptist,
Matt. xvii. 11, 12.) yet our Lord did not limit the
222
coming' of Elijah to that season only. The Evan-
gelists, in describing the transfiguration of the Lord
Jesus, relate that Elijah and Moses were present
at the solemn scene. (Matt. xvii. 3, 4.) And there
doth not seem an objection, wherefore Elijah may
not again appear before the Lord Jesus comes in
glory, as is supposed, he will in his reign upon earth.
The expression of Malachi seems to warrant this
conclusion, for it is said, that this mission of Elijah
will be " before the great and dreadful day of the
Lord." The first coming of Christ, was indeed a
great and glorious, but not a dreadful day.
Whereas, the second coming is uniformly spoken
of as the terrible day of the Lord. For while it
will be " to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe," it is no less said
to be u in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. i. 8. 10.)
ELIMELECH. This man was the husband of
Naomi, whom we read of with such honourable
testimony for her faith in God, in the book of
Ruth ; and as so much is contained in that sweet
fragment of sacred Scripture, in allusion to the Lord
Jesus Christ, 1 thought it proper to notice in this
place, this name. The whole of the book of Ruth
is interesting, not only as a true history of events
which took place in the church, but, like that of
Joseph, is typical and figurative of higher things.
The certain man, there spoken of, going down
from Bethlehem-judah, the land of bread, to so-
journ in Moab, the city of destruction, becomes no
unapt representation of our first father, who, like
the Samaritan our Lord describes, going down
from Jerusalem, the holy city, to Jericho, the
cursed city, fell among thieves. (Luke x. 30.)
And as the persons of this certain man and his
223
family were types of others, so their names were
significant also of their history. Elimelech means,
my God, a king- ; Naomi signifies, a pleasant one ;
and their sons, Mahlon and Chilion, sickness and
consumption ; for such will always be the fruits
of leaving1 Jesus for the world. (See Ruth though-
out.)
ELISHA. The successor, in the prophetical office,
of Elijah. His name is also highly significant,
meaning the salvation of my God. I must pass
over many interesting circumstances in the history
of this man of God, for the same reasons as in the
former. But I beg to notice one event in Elisha's
ministry, because it is not so generally regarded,
and yet seems to lead to a profitable subject of
meditation. The event I refer to, is that of his
healing the waters of Jericho. (See 2 Kings ii. 19
— 22.) The reader will not forget, that Jericho is the
city Joshua cursed before the Lord. (See Josh, vi
26, with 1 Kings xvi. 34.) There evidently appears
from ihis history, the tokens of divine displeasure
upon Jericho in the days of Elisha. For we read,
that the men of the city said unto the prophet,
" Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is
pleasant, as my lord seeth, but the water is naught,
and the ground barren." In the margin of our
Bibles the barren ground is explained, in causing
to miscarry. Hence it should seem, that the divine
displeasure was manifested in this way, in the
rendering the climate unfavourable to the increase
of children. I do not presume to decide upon
the subject, neither do I say as much, when I ask
the question, in order to determine the point, as to
enquire. But I humbly conceive, if by the naugh-
tiness of the water of Jericho, barrenness was
induced among the females, there was somewhat in
this analogous to the Lord's appointment in Israel
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concerning- the waters of Jealousy. In both cases,
the matter is the same in relation to the cause.
(See Num. v. 23. to the end.) That the barrenness
mentioned of Jericho referred to the sterility of
the women, or their miscarriages, which is the same
thing in effect, I have no doubt. The same word
Sheceleh, is made use of in this place, as in the
instance of Jacob's expostulating with Laban:
(Gen. xxxi. 38.) "Thy she-goats have not cast their
young." And the Lord, when speaking in promises
to his people, saith, (Exod. xxiii. 25, 26.) u He
shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will
take sickness away from the midst of thee. There
shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in
thy land."
It appears then, that amidst all the pleasantness
of Jericho, which abounded with palm trees (and,
indeed, on that account was called the city of palm
trees, (See 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.) there was still a
certain somewhat, unfavourable to that which to
the children of Israel (looking forward to the types
that the promised seed would be in their lot), was
among the most distressing of all calamities, the
want of children. This was the state of Jericho.
The prophet's cruse of salt cast into the waters,
under the Lord's blessing, healed the land. Elisha
cast the cruse into the spring, saying, " Thus saith
the Lord, I have healed these waters ; there shall
not be from thence any more, death, or barren land.
So the waters were healed unto this day, ac-
cording to the saying of Elisha." I have thought
it worth while to enter into the particulars of this
interesting account, concerning the barrenness at
Jericho healed by the cruse of salt cast into the
spring of the waters, by way of introducing an in-
finitely more interesting observation on the subject
itself. The cruse of salt, like the tree at Marah
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225
(Exod. xv. 25.) were both beautiful types of
Jesus and his salvation. Both the cruse and the
barrenness are effectually cured when Jesus takes
them away. The waters of Marah lose their bit-
terness when his cross is put in them to sweeten
and sanctify. The barrenness of Jericho is healed,
and children are born, even in Jericho, when
Christ's cruse of grace is applied. A Rahab and
harlot is found in Jericho ; and Ethiopia, and
Seba, and the multitude of isles, shall stretch forth
their hands unto God. Jesus hath taken out the
curse when he was made a curse for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him."
(Gal. iii. 13. 2 Cor. v. 21.) Hallelujah !
ELKANAH. His name signifies, to be zealous for
God ; from Kina, zealous ; and El, God. See
Hannah.
ELUL. The sixth month of the Israelites, cor-
responding to our August. The same signifies a
cry.
ELYMAS, The sorcerer. His name answers to
the character, for it means magician. (Acts xiii. 7.)
EMBALM. The embalming the bodies of the dead
was a very ancient custom, both with the Hebrews
and the Egyptians. Hence we read of Joseph
giving directions to the physicians to embalm the
body of his father. (Gen. i. 2.) This is the earliest
account of embalming that we have in Scripture.
And it should seem, therefore, to have taken its
rise in Egypt. Some have said, that necessity
first taught the Egyptians the art of embalming,
for when the river Nile overflowed, sometimes
the inundation continued for near two months;
during which time the bodies of the dead not only
remained unburied, but remained unavoidably in
the tents. To avoid the dreadful effects arising
from putrefaction, gave rise to the idea of em-
VOL. VI. Q
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balming ; which was done by taking away the
entrails, and anointing the body with oil and a
composition of spices, which formed a kind of
transparent coating-, preserving from corruption,
and keeping the body entire. I beg the reader to
remark, that the custom, thus probably borrowed
from the Egyptians, became the custom also of the
Hebrews, even to the days of our Saviour. For
we read, that there was an intention of embalming
the Lord of life and glory. But if the reader will
consult all the evangelists, he will find that the
thing was not done, but prevented by our Lord's
resurrection. The pious women resting the Sab-
bath day became, by the Lord's providence, the
overruling cause to this effect. The Almighty Re-
deemer could need no embalming. His holy body
saw no corruption. Sweet thought to the believer !
And the dust of his saints, in like manner, is em-
balmed in him. Infinitely more valuable than the
golden dust of the goldsmith. Hence the Psal-
mist saith, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of his saints." (Ps. cxvi. 15.)
EMMANUEL. We pause over this precious name,
as well we may, before we presume to enter upon
it, or to say what immense blessings are folded up
in it. Who, indeed, can undertake to say? Ne-
vertheless, if what we propose be wholly scriptural,
and supported by Scripture authority, we can
never err. And though our discoveries go but a
little way, yet even that little way is blessed, when
God the Holy Ghost goeth before us, and His
voice is distinctly heard directing. (Isa. xxx. 21.)
Concerning this blessed name of our adorable
Lord, we find that it was given by the Lord
himself, and that it was declared to be the Lord's
sign to the house of David. (Isa. vii. 14.) " There-
fore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
227
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel." The Hebrew
word Almah, virgin, strictly and properly speak-
ing, a virgin, who hath never been seen by man.
The word implies hidden, kept in, and secret. St.
Jerome makes a nice distinction on this ground,
between the ordinary word, Bethula, a young wo-
man, and Almah, a virgin. In this memorable pas-
sage of Isa. vii. 14. the word is Almah.
But while I consider this distinction highly im-
portant, I beg the reader yet more particularly to
consider the blessedness of the name itself of Ema-
nuel, God with us. Sweet consideration to the heart
of the believer ! For as God, it is evident, that all
he did when upon earth, and all that he is doing
now in heaven, was, and is effectual to all the pur-
poses of salvation. The infinite dignity of his
person gives an infinite merit to his work, and can-
not fail, both in his blood and righteousness, to jus-
tify his people, and render them truly acceptable in
the sight of God their Father, and fully secure to
them the everlasting blessedness and glory of heaven.
And as He is man and God in our nature, so does
his nearness and dearness give an interest to his
people in all that belongs to him ; yea, all the
blessings come home with a tenfold sweetness to
our hearts, because he is Emmanuel, God with us.
God in our nature, and we the " members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones."
EMMAUS. A village sixty furlongs (that is seven
miles and a half,) north of Jerusalem, rendered me-
morable in being the place to which the two disci-
ples walked on the day of our Lord's resurrection,
and where he made himself known unto them, in
breaking of bread, and blessing it. (See Luke
xxiv. 13—32.)
END. This word would not have needed particular
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228
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attention, but for that the Lord Jesus on the throne
called himself by it. (Rev. xxi. 6.) And when we
consider in how many ways the Lord is, both the be-
ginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega,
surely it is very blessed to make him, what the Fa-
ther hath made him, as the Mediator and head of
his church and people, the first and the last in all
our pursuits, affections, and designs : Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
ENGEDI. We read of the vineyards of Engedi
Song i. 14. A place remarkable for palm trees
and vines, and the church compares the Lord Je-
sus to both on account of his riches and sweetness
and fulness. The word means, fountain of happi-
ness.
ENOCH. The seventh from Adam. His name
signifies dedicated, from Chanach. The Holy
Ghost hath given a blessed testimony to this man.
(Heb. xi. 5.) Oh ! for grace thus to walk, and
thus to have communion with God in Christ !
ENON. The place where John baptized. (John iii.
22.) It lay south of Shalim and Jordan. The name
signifies a cloud.
ENOS. The son of Seth. (Gen. v. 6.) The name
signifies sickness, mortality, yea, the word itself,
Enos, is sickness.
ENSHEMISH. A place toward the salt sea. (See
Josh. xv. 7.) The name signifies the fountain of
the sun, from Ain, fountain, and Shemesh, the sun.
ENSIGN. An ensign, as a banner, set up as a tro-
phy of victory, or for a declaration of war. I
should not have thought it necessary to have no-
ticed it, but because Christ is said to be set up as
an ensign to the people, and to call the nations
from afar ; alluding, perhaps, to both the Jewish
and Gentile church. (See Isa. v. 26 ; xi. 10 — 12.)
And the reader will forgive me when I add, that it
E P 229
is blessed to behold the Lord Jesus under this
figure. For He and He alone, is the Standard-
bearer among- ten thousand. So hath he been in
Jehovah's view, from all eternity. His victories
mark him in the one point, and his warfare for his
church mark him for the other. So that He is the
signal of war to all his redeemed, for their contests
with sin, death, and hell. Oh ! may the Holy
Ghost lift him up to my soul continually, that .the
Amaleks of the day may have no momentary suc-
cess, until that my God hath put out, as he hath
sworn, the name of Amalek from under heaven !
(Exod. xvii. 10. to the end.) See Banner.
EPAPHRAS. It is supposed, that he was the first
bishop of Colosse. (Col. i. 7.) His name is from
the Greek, meaning covered with foam.
EPAPHROD1TAS. An eminent servant of the
church at Philippi. (Phil. iv. 8.)
EPENETUS. A convert to the gospel. (Rom. xvi. 5.)
EPHA. An Hebrew measure, containing about
three pecks and three pints, like a Bath.
EPHESUS. The celebrated city to which Paul sent
his Epistle. And one of the seven churches to
whom the Lord Jesus sent his message. (See Acts
xix. 1. Ephes. i. and Rev. ii. 1.)
EPHOD. This formed part of the High Priest's dress,
and no doubt, like the office itself, was intended
as typical of Christ. It was a rich dress composed
of different colours, blue, purple, and crimson, and
adorned with gold. On that part of it which
crossed the breast was a square ornament called
the choschen, containing precious stones, with the
names on them of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Nothing could more aptly represent our great
High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, going in before
the presence of Jehovah with the names of his peo-
ple on his breast. Hence the church, in allusion
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to it, vehemently urgeth Christ in that request,
* Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon
thine arm ;" (Song viii. 6.) meaning, that she might
be always in his remembrance, to live in his heart,
and to be always looked upon as a seal, or signet,
on the arm. (See Exod. xxviii. 4 — 29. See
Urim and Thummim.)
EPHPHATHA. This is more of Syriac than the
Hebrew language. It comes from Pathach, to
open. The Evangelist hath explained it, Mark
vii. 34. Whenever we read this miracle of the
Lord Jesus, shall we not beg the Lord to say
to us, as to this poor man, that all our spiritual
faculties may be opened at his sovereign voice, and
all unite in his praises ?
EPHRA. A city of Ephraim ; perhaps the same
as Ophrah. (Judges vi. 11.) It is derived from
Epher, ashes. The prophet Isaiah hath a beauti-
ful observation on this word, contrasted with
Pheer, which is beauty. The Lord, he saith, will
give them Pheer for Epher ; that is, beauty for
ashes ; meaning the blessed change wrought by
grace in the soul, when from sin they are brought
to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Isa.
lxi. 3.)
EPHRAIM. One of the sons of Joseph. The
name is derived from Pharah, fruitfulness. In
the after ages of the church, the Lord frequently
speaks of the whole church of Israel by the name
of Ephraim. (See Jer, xxxi. 20. Hos. vii. 1. —
xii. 1. — xiii. 1.) I do not presume to say the
cause was, because the ten tribes had the chief
city in Ephraim ; but I think it probable. The
Psalmist, when speaking of looking out a place for
the ark, saith, we found it in Ephratah. (Ps.
cxxxii. 6.)
EPHRAIM. A city. There were two of this
231
name, one a city of Benjamin, several miles from
Jerusalem ; and the other belonging to Ephraim,
near Jordan. Here it was the Lord Jesus went a
few days before his crucifixion. (See John xi. 54.)
EPHRATH or EPHRATAH. This is the same as
Bethlehem, where Christ was born. (See Micah
v. 2. Matt. ii. 1.) The word is derived from
Pharah, fruitfulness. See Bethlehem.
ESAU. The elder brother of Jacob, who despised
the blessing, and was rejected. In the history of
those two brothers, we have enough to answer and
silence all cavils respecting distinguishing grace
from God's own testimony. (See Gen. xxv. 21 —
23. Mai. i. 3. Rom. ix. throughout.)
But while this doctrine concerning distinguish-
ing grace is fully displayed in the history of Jacob
and Esau from those Scriptures, there is one point
more relating to Esau which deserves to be par-
ticularly considered, and the more so, from the
misapprehension of many respecting it. I mean
what is said by the apostle of the rejection of
Esau's repentance. (Heb. xii. 16, 17.) By a mis-
take both of the cause which gave birth to this
man's repentance, and of the nature of that re-
pentance itself, many erroneous opinions have been
formed upon it. A short attention to the passage
as given by the apostle, under the Holy Ghost's
teaching, will put this subject in a clear light, and
explain this seeming difficulty.
The passage is as follows : — " Lest there be
any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for
one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye
know how that afterward when he would have in-
herited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found
no place of repentance, though he sought it care-
fully with tears." Now, if the reader will com-
pare what is here said with the account given by
232
the Holy Ghost, how he sold his birthright. (Gen.
xxv. 29 — 34.) he will discover the contempt which he
put upon his birthright, and the consequent resent-
ment of God. This is the first thing to be ob-
served in this transaction. The covenant blessing-
he still despised. This he wholly disregarded,
and never repented that he had so done.
And if the reader looks attentively to what the
Apostle hath said concerning his repentance, he
will next discover, that Esau's repentance was not
in respect to the promised blessing in spiritual
things conveyed to Jacob, but mere temporal pos-
sessions. Jacob was made Esau's lord, and Esau
himself, by selling his birthright, had consented to it ;
of this he repented, and sought it carefully with tears,
to prevail upon his father Isaac to call it back,
hoping the known partiality of the father to him
would prevail over his natural feelings. " And
hence he cried with an exceeding bitter cry, and
said, Hast thou but one blessing, my father, bless
me, even me, also, O mv father ! " (Gen. xxvii.
34—38.)
The reader will perceive, that in this whole ac-
count here is nothing but the natural feelings at
work. The repentance of Esau is wholly concern-
ing earthly possessions, and not a word spoken
about the covenant blessing given to Abraham con-
cerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, therefore,
the rejection of Esau's repentance is the rejection
of his earthly father Isaac, and hath nothing to do
with the rejection of the Lord. Esau offered no
repentance to God. The blessing in Christ he
regarded no more then, than he did when he sold
his birthright. This was not in Esau's concern.
Esau was still the same profane person as ever. So
that, if men who read their Bibles would read them
attentively on this point, and beg the great Author
233
of his written word, even God the Holy Ghost, to
instruct them, they would learn to make a proper
distinction between what Paul calls the sorrow
of the world, which worketh death, and that godly
sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation not
to be repented of. (2 Cor. vii. 10.) The former,
like Esau's, is wholly from nature ; the latter, Paul
describes, is from grace. The one is man's own
creating, and wholly concerning earthly things ;
the other is the Lord's creating, and wholly refers
to heavenly things. The repentance that begins
in a man's own heart from his own disappointments
in worldly pursuits, ends as it began, and produc-
eth death. The repentance which is from above
and leads to true sorrow of soul, riseth to the source
from whence it first came, and bringeth forth life.
And this is confirmed by what the apostle declared;
u Christ is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins." (Acts v. 31.)
ESHCOL. This was a valley or brook, so called, in
the south of Judah, and perhaps took its name
from the clusters of grapes there abounding. The
name Eshcol, indeed, means bunch of grapes. It
was in this place the spies sent by Moses to search
the land cut down one bunch, which required two
men to carry. (See Num. xiii. 23, 24.) See
Cluster.
ESPOUSED, and ESPOUSALS. This term is well
known among the Hebrews, in the ceremony of
their marriages. The espousing each other, and
the betrothing by promise to each other, from the
time that this was done, was considered as sacred,
though the marriage was not consummated some-
times for a considerable space after. Upon these
occasions there was generally a pledge given from
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the man to the woman, as a token of this inviola-
ble contract.
This espousal, in the Jewish church, is frequently
made use of, by way of figure, to represent the
spiritual union and marriage of Christ with his
people. Hence we find several striking Scriptures
to this amount. (Isa. liv. 5. Hos. ii. 19, 20. Jer. ii. 2j
iii. 14. Rev. xix. 7—9.) The Son of God mar-
ried our nature when taking that holy portion of it,
his body, into union with the Godhead. And he
forms an union, as the Christ of God, with every
individual of his mystical body, by betrothing each
to himself. He also, like the Jewish husband, gives
the pledge and token of his love, when he gives
the influence of his Holy Spirit. From this time
the contract is considered inviolable, and the Lord
saith, " Thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou
shalt not be for another man ; so will I also be for
thee." (Hos. iii. 3.) At length, when the Lord
brings home his spouse, then it is called the mar-
riage-supper of the Lamb in heaven. (Rev. xix. 9.)
See Betrothing and Marriage.
ESTHER. Daughter of Abihail. See her history,
Book of Esther. Hername means secret, from Sathar.
ETERNAL, and ETERNITY. The Scripture sense
of these terms, in reference to the persons of the
Godhead, and the events connected with them, are
in the strictest sense of the word, for ever and
ever. Very solemn, and yet very blessed, and full
of the highest consolation, are those views of the
eternity of Jehovah and his purposes in salvation.
How infinitely sublime are those Scriptures ! "Thus
saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eter-
nity, whose name is Holy." (Isa. lvii. 15.) " For I
lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for
ever." (Deut. xxxii. 40.) * The eternal God is thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."
235
(Deut. xxxiii. 27.) And Jehovah, in a threefold
character of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
is thus described in the eternity of his nature and
essence, so Christ the Mediator, by virtue of the
union of the manhood with the Godhead, is de-
clared by Jehovah to be eternal. " Thy throne, O
God, is for ever and ever." (Ps. xlv. 6. Heb. i. 8.)
"The Lord sware, and will not repent ; Thou arta
Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec."
(Ps. ex. 4.) And hence, in Christ and by Christ,
and from an union with him, all that is connected
in the blessed work of salvation is of eternal du-
ration. The covenant is declared to be an ever-
lasting- covenant, ordered in all things and sure.
(2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Jer. xxxii. 40.) The gospel is called
an everlasting gospel. (Rev. xiv. 6.) Redemption is
said to bean eternal redemption. (Heb. ix 12.) And
the consequence certainly follows from these pro-
perties, that the glory purchased by an eternal
redemption is an eternal weight of glory. So the
apostle to the Corinthians calls it, 2 Cor. iv. 17.
(See Heb. v. 9. 1 Pet. v. 10. 1 John v. 11.)
ETHIOPIA. One of the great kingdoms in Africa,
sometimes called Cush in Scripture, from Cush,
blackness. Blessed are the promises concerning the
call of Ethiopia to the Lord, in the latter dispen-
sations of the gospel. (Ps. lxviii. 31 ; lxxii. 10, 11.
Isa. xlv. 14.)
EVE. Our first mother. The name is taken from a
Hebrew root, signifying life. The name woman
seems to be a corruption of womb-man, because
taken out of man ; for the very reason thus assign-
ed by our first father so explains it. (Gen. ii. 23.)
There is a very great beauty and wisdom in the
contrivance, as well as grace and favour in the
Lord's ordination in peopling the earth. Both sexes
shall have equal honour in the plan of creation and
236
E X
redemption. The man, saith the apostle, Adam
was first formed, then Eve, (1 Tim. ii. 13.) Here the
man hath the precedency. But in all the after cir-
cumstances the woman is to be the womb of crea-
tion. And yet to keep up this order, the rib of the
man shall be, as it were, the womb for the women.
And hence, she shall be called womb-man. But as
both the man and the woman are equally involved in
sin, in the redemption for both the Lord will make
a new thing in the earth, and a woman shall com-
pass a man. (Jer. xxxi. 22.) The man of the earth,
therefore, Adam and all his race, shall have no
hand in this generation ; yea, the womb of the
woman only shall be no more than but for the de-
posit of this Holy Thing. The body the Father
prepared for his Son shall be produced by the mi-
raculous overshadowing power of God the Holy
Ghost. So that though Christ is of the seed of David,
according to the flesh, and the seed of the woman,
according to promise, and thus literally and truly
belonging to both, yet indeed, and in truth, uncon-
nected with either. So blessed and so wonderful
are the ways of our wonder-working God !
(Isa. xxviii. 29.)
EXPIATION. This was a solemn day among the
Jews. It was observed on the tenth day of the month
Tizri. TheHebrews called it Chippeen, meaning par-
don. And they had a belief that the whole of the
offences of the past year were then forgiven. What
could be more striking in reference to" the blood of
Christ which cleanseth from all sin?" (I John i. 7.)
I refer the reader to Lev. xvi. for the relation of
this day of expiation, where there is a circumstan-
tial account of it.
The Rabbi had a high veneration for this day, and
observed it with great strictness and solemnity-
They make a point to have all breaches made up
237
in families, or among- the people on this day. And
if one is conscious that he is the aggressor, he first
makes overtures for a reconciliation with the person
he hath offended. And if the other is averse to for-
give or withhold it, the aggressor again and again
sues for pardon. But if the offended will not be
reconciled, the offender takes with him one or more
witnesses, to testify what he hath done, and from
hence the offended person, if he any longer refuseth,
becomes the guilty party. The same is observed, if
the party that was injured be dead. The of-
fender goes to his grave and acknowledges his
guilt, and this is considered as obtaining his pardon.
The day of Expiation was considered so solemn,
and the office of the High Priest so sacred, that
fearing he should commit an error when it was
finished, and the day over, he changed his dress,
blessed the people, and gave a great feast, bless-
ing the Lord that he had come out unhurt from
the sanctuary. See Goat.
EZEKIEL. The prophet. His name is very signi-
ficant, meaning " the strength of God." The
ministry of this man seems to have been carried
on by signs and representations, more than by open
preaching. The Lord indeed said that Ezekiel
was for a sign unto his people. (Ezek. xxiv. 24 —
27.) And in nothing perhaps do the customs and
manners of mankind differ more, than in the
method of communication to each other. Lan-
guage is rather an imperfection, notwithstanding
all we boast of its beauty, than an accomplishment.
It is most needful in numberless instances, suited
to our present state. But in the world of per-
fection to Avhich we are hastening, the communi-
cation of ideas will have a more complete and
quick order. The word of God tells us as much,
in saying, that in that blessed place, " whether
238
F A
there be tongues they shall cease." (1 Cor. xiii. 8.)
In the eastern countries, and in the days of the
prophets particularly, and even now, modern
travellers say, that generally more than half the
transactions of life are carried on by signs. The
prophets delivered their messages by gesticu-
lations and signs, similar to what was then in com-
mon use in common concerns, and thus made their
message familiar and easy to be understood. Thus
Ezekiel's removing into captivity, digging through
the wall, not mourning for the dead, and the like,
were declared to be tokens and signs respecting
the Lord's dealings with his people. So Jere-
miah's girdle hid by the river ; the potter's earthen
bottle, the wooden yoke he wore about his neck ;
these were all to the same amount, speaking by
action, instead of words, and much better under-
stood by the people. Isaiah speaks of the same
signs. (Isa. viii. 18.) And Zechariah, of Christ
and his fellows. (Zech. iii. 8.) In reading Eze-
kiel's prophecy, particular attention should be had
to these things.
EZION-GEBER. A city of Arabia, meaning, the
Wood of the strong. So called from Hets, wood ;
and Gaber, strong. (1 Kings ix. 26.)
EZRA. The Priest. See his Book. His name
means help, from Ezer.
F A
FACE. The face is frequently put for the whole
body. It is meant for the person. Hence, when
the church prayeth, ? O Lord God, turn not
away the face of thine Anointed that is, the
person of thine Anointed. (2 Chron. vi. 42.) So
again, when it is said, " The face of the Lord is
239
against them that do evil," it means, that the Lord
himself is so. (Ps. xxxiv. 16.) So again, the
patriarch Jacob, speaking to his son Joseph, said,
" I had not thought to see thy face f that is, thy
person ; "and lo! God hath shewed me thy seed."
(Gen. xlviii. 11.)
Concerning the face of the Lord, it is said by
the Lord to Moses, u Thou canst not see my face ;
for there shall no man see me and live." And yet
in the same chapter we are told, that u the Lord
spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to
his friend." (Exod. xxxiii. 20. See also Num.
xiv. 14. Deut. v. 4.) But there is no difficulty
in reconciling these Scriptures ; in fact, they do
not differ, when properly considered, from each
other. The sight of Jehovah, in his own unveiled
glory, is inadmissible to mortals. But the mani-
festation of Jehovah, so as to identify his person
and reality as the speaker, is as plain in those dis-
coveries as that of seeing him face to face.
Those Scriptures are best explained by each
other. One part of the divine word throws a
light upon another ; and we are commanded thus
to form our judgments, by f comparing spiritual
things with spiritual." (1 Cor. ii. 13.)
But every difficulty is at once removed concern-
ing seeing the face of Jehovah, by considering
the person of the Lord Jesus in his mediatorial
character and office, as the visible Jehovah.
Thus for example; — when Jehovah promiseth to
send his angel before the people, and commandeth
them to obey his voice, he adds, " for my name is
in him." (Exod xxiii. 2. 21.) In whom but Christ,
as Christ, was ever the name of Jehovah? So
again, when it is said. (1 Sam. iii. 21.) "And the
Lord appeared again in Shiloh ; for the Lord re
vealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh, by the word of
240
F A
the Lord." What word could this be but the
uncreated Word, which was, in the after ages of
the church, "made flesh, and dwelt among- us?"
(John i. 1 — 4.) Surely, in these and numberless
other instances, spoken of in the Old Testament
Scripture, of Jehovah's appearance, sometimes in
the form of a man, and sometimes of an angel,
the Lord Jesus is all along intended to be repre-
sented. In all those manifestations it is, as the
apostle speaks, giving the church u the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. iv. 6.)
FAITH. This is the great and momentous word in
Scripture, which hath given rise to endless dis-
putes, and employed the minds of men in all ages
to explain ; and yet to thousands still remains as
obscure as ever. But notwithstanding all that the
bewildered and erroneous mind of man may say
on faith, the scriptural account of faith is the
simplest and plainest thing in the world. Faith
is no more than the sincere and hearty assent and
consent of the mind to the belief of the being and
promises of God, as especially revealed to the
church in the person and redemption-work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah, in his threefold cha-
racter of person, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
hath mercifully been pleased to reveal himself as
" forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin," and
giving eternal life to the church in Christ Jesus.
And these blessings are all declared to be in the
person, and procured to the church by the sole
undertaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the glo-
rious Head of his body the church, the fulness of
him " that filleth all in all."
The hearty, cordial, and sincere belief in these
blessed truths of God is called faith, because it is
giving credit to the testimony of God, and relying
'241
upon his faithfulness for the fulfilment of them.
The apostle John, in his first Epistle, fifth chapter,
and ninth and following- verses, puts this doctrine
in so clear a point of view, that, under divine
teaching, if attended to, it would be impossible to
mistake it. " If we receive (saith John) the wit-
ness of men, the witness of God is greater ; for
this is the witness of God which he hath testified
of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God, hath made him a liar, because he believ-
eth not the record that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us,
eternal life ; and this life is in his Son. He that
hath the Son, hath life ; and he that hath not the
Son of God, hath not life."
No form of words could have been more hap-
pily chosen to state what is the act of faith, and
to put it in a clear and full light. Immense and
unspeakable blessings are promised by God. It
is not the greatness of the blessings which de
mands our faith, but the greatness of the Being pro-
mising. Indeed, the greater the blessings are,
the greater would be the difficulty of believing,
unless some other warrant and authority become
the foundation for belief. The bottom, therefore,
of all faith is, that what we are called upon to
believe is founded in Jehovah himself. Jehovah
that cannot lie; Jehovah that will not lie. An
Almighty Promiser that never can out-promise
himself. Hence, when Moses at the bush desired
a confirmation of the truth, the Lord gave him to
deliver to Israel, by knowing his name, and having
such assurances to make to them as might silence
every doubt. " Behold, (said he,) when I come to
the children of Israel, and shall say unto them,
The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you,
VOL, VI. R
242
and they shall say unto me, What is his name ?
what shall I say unto them ? And God said unto
Moses, 1 AM THAT I AM." That is, I AM a being
self-existing-, and eternal ; and which, therefore,
gives a being to all my promises. So that this is
the sure ground of faith. Not the greatness and
blessedness of the promise ; but the greatness,
blessedness, and faithfulness of the Promiser.
And to believe in the almighty Promiser in his
assurances in Christ, is faith. I only add, however,
under this article, that though faith is the simplest
and plainest act of the mind, yet both the posses-
sion and the exercise of it is the gift of God. "Unto
you, (saith an apostle,) it is given to believe."
(Phil. i. 29.) And hence every truly awakened
and regenerated believer finds daily reason to
cry out, as the apostle did to Christ, " Lord, in-
crease our faith ! " (Luke xvii. 5.)
FAITHFUL. After what hath been said under the
foregoing article of faith, [ shall not think it neces-
sary to add much on the subject of faithfulness.
The sense of it is very obvious. I only beg to ob-
serve, that it appears from Scripture the Lord de-
lights to be known to his people, in his covenant
engagements, by this distinguishing perfection.
That sweet passage delivered to the church by
Moses, is a most decided proof of it : " Know, there-
fore, that the Lord thy God, he is God ; the faith-
ful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with
them tha' love him and keep his commandments to
a thousand generations." (Deut. vii. 9. See also
1 Sam. ii. 35. Ps. lxxxix. 37. 1 Cor. i. 9. 1 Thess.
v. 24. Rev. i. 5 ; xix. 11.)
FALL. The fall of man is among the first of the
portraits in the Bible on the great subject of re-
demption. When Adam came out of the hands
of his gracious Creator, we are told, that he was
F A.
243
created in the image of God. By which I appre-
hend, that he was formed in similitude to him who
is "the image of the invisible God, the first born
of every creature." " Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness." (Gen. i. 26.) What image ?
Not the image of Jehovah as Jehovah, for Jehovah
is invisible ; but, according to what the apostle
Paul hath delivered to the church, by the authority
and instruction of the Holy Ghost, in the image of
him who before all worlds stood up, at the call of
God, as the glorious Head of his body the church
secretly, though not openly, the "first-born of every
creature." Let the reader read the whole passage.
(Col. i. 15, &c.) "Who is the image of the invi-
sible God, the first-born of every creature. For
by him were all things created that are in heaven
and that are in earth, visible and invisible ; whe-
ther they be thrones, or dominions, or principali-
ties, or powers, all things were created by him and
for him : and he is before all things, and by him all
things consist. And he is the Head of the body,
the church ; who is the beginning, the first-born
from the dead, that in all tilings he might have the
pre-eminence." Now from hence it plainly appears,
that Christ as Christ, that is, God and man in one
person, had a priority of existence to every other,
and was, and is, the image of the invisible Jehovah,
in whose likeness Adam, the first man, was made.
It appears also, that by him, that is, God and man
in one person, all things were created. God
created all things, we are told, by Jesus Christ.
(Ephes. iii. 9.)
And it farther appears, that all things were not
only created by him, but for him. The whole cause
for which Jehovah went forth in acts of creation,
as relating to our world, was for the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, more than this ; for the
r 2
244
FA
same Scripture saith, that he is not only before all
things, but by him all things consist. As if this
image of the invisible God became the only foun-
dation for creation to rest upon, and the only power
to preserve and keep the whole together. This
image then of the invisible God was the Person in
whose likeness, it should seem, Adam, the first
man of the earth, was formed. And, therefore, in
the holiness of that similitude, as well in mind as
in body, our first parent came forth from the hands
of his infinite and kind Creator.
By the fall he lost this resemblance, and all his
faculties became ruined and defiled ; yea, his
whole nature virtually all sin. Hence the Scrip-
tures, under the strongest expressions, speak of
the mighty ruin. His understanding became
darkened, so as to lose the knowledge of God.
(Eplies. iv. 18, 19.) His affections became carnal,
sensual, and devilish. (Ephes. ii. 1 — 3. James
iii. 15.) His will stubborn, rebellious, proud, and
disobedient. (1 Pet. iv. 3.) Yea, his whole mind
enmity against God. (Rom. viii. 7.) The Psalmist,
and after him the apostle Paul, hath given some of
the more striking features of fallen man, when he
saith, "The Lord looked down from heaven upon
the children of men, to see if there were any that
did understand and seek after God." But the re-
sult of the divine enquiry was, that "they were all
gone aside, they were altogether become filthy,
there was none that did good, no not one." (Ps. xiv.
2. 3. with Rom. iii. 10 — 19.) Such is the Scrip-
ture account of the fall.
Blessed be He that, by his great undertaking,
hath restored our poor nature from the ruins of the
fall, and by uniting his church, which is his body,
to himself, hath given to us a better righteousness
than man had before. The holiness of Adam was
245
but the holiness of the creature, peccable, capable
of being- lost ; and was lost. The holiness of the
Lord Jesus, in which all his redeemed are beheld
and accepted before God, is the holiness of God-
man, perfect, and incapable of being- ever lost or
lessened. How precious the thought ! So then,
our present fallen state is not the original state of
man, neither is it the final state. In Jesus and his
righteousness the injury sustained by the fall is
more than repaired, and the everlasting welfare
of the church, which is his body, eternally secured
from all the possibility of loss from an union and
oneness with him. Hail! thou glorious, gracious,
holy one of God, "the Lord our righteousness." (Jer.
xxiii. 6.)
FAMINE — Is one of God's four sore judgments
which the Lord threatened to send upon Jerusa-
lem ; the sword, and the famine, the noisome
beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it
man and beast. (See Ezek. xiv. 22.) And though
it may be said by some, that famine may be
induced by natural causes, yet it must be allowed
by those who believe the Scripture, that natural
causes are but the agents and instruments of
divine appointment. Who can doubt but that
the plenty in Egypt, which was succeeded by seven
years famine, was to bring about the gracious pur-
poses of the Lord concerning Joseph and his fa-
mily, that Israel might be led out of Egypt? Who
can question that the famine in the days of Elisha
was the same, when we are told, that the Lord call-
ed for it seven years. (2 Kings viii. 1.) And who
will put down to natural causes what the Lord
accomplished by instruments, in themselves so
feeble, when in the days of Joel the Lord's great
army ate up the whole produce of the land ?
(Joel 1, 2, &c. )
246
But reader ! how dreadful soever a famine ill a
land may be, when for the wickedness of the peo-
ple the Lord sends it, yet the word of God speaks
of a famine yet more alarming1. How very so-
lemn are the words of the Lord, by the prophet,
on this subject, Amos \iii. 11, 12. "Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a
famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from the north even unto the east ; they shall run
to and fro to seek ths word of the Lord, and shall
not find it." What an awful sentence is this ! And
by as much as the soul is infinitely more important
in value than the body, by so much must be the fa-
mine of living bread here threatened. But to what
period of the church are we to look for its accom-
plishment? Was it not eminently fulfilled in the
instance of the house of Israel, when, after their
rejecting the Lord of life and glory, the Lord scat-
tered them over the face ol the earth, and left the na-
tion to a wandering state, " without a king, without a
prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without
an ephod, and without teraphim ?" Yea, are they not
still in this awful state ? Oh ! that that sweet pro-
mise may be hastening for its accomplishment,
which the prophet who related the famined state of
Israel declared also, by the same authority, should
be at length fulfilled. "Afterward (said he,)
shall the children of Israel return, and seek the
Lord their God, and David their king; and shall
fear the Lord and his goodness many days." (Hos.
iii. 4, 5.) But let not the reader close up his view
of this spiritual famine as it relates to the Jews,
without going farther, and enquiring whether the
threatening may not belong equally to the Gentile
church? yea, and whether it is not now in the pre-
247
sent hour accomplishing in the earth ? Is there not
a famine of hearing the word of the Lord in num-
berless places which are called Christian countries,
as well as idolatrous lauds ? Are there not multitu-
des who call themselves after Christ, but yet know
no more of him than the name ? Yea, to come
nearer home, are there not villages and country
places in this kingdom where the spiritual famine
prevails, notwithstanding our land is called a
land of Bibles, and societies for disseminating the
word of God are every where opening? Alas !
while the grand and distinguishing principles of the
faith of Christ are so openly and impudently de-
nied; while God the Father's gracious purposes in
the gift of salvation by his dear Son, is thought no-
thing of ; while the Godhead of Christ, and redemp-
tion wholly by his blood, is daringly opposed;
and while the person, work, and influence of God
the Holy Ghost is not made the very foundation of
a sinner's hope, in reading the sacred word to
make wise unto salvation ; while these things
are kept in the back ground, and the object with
many in teaching is but to introduce a flimsy
system of morality to supply the place of vital
godliness, is there not still a famine, yea, with
many, with the Bible in their hand ? Pious regene-
rated Christans see this, and find cause to mourn in
secret over it ; while they can only pray the Lord
to take away the reproach of our land, and re-
move this spiritual famine from our people. Oh,
for Jesus, the living bread, to feed his people with
true understanding and knowledge!
FAST and FASTING. There seems to have been
a disposition in all men, and from the earliest ages
of antiquity, to testify a somewhat of sorrow in the
mind in an abstinence, at certain times, and upon
248
certain occasions, from food, by way of punishment
for sin. Indeed, real and unfeigned sorrow of the
heart will of itself naturally induce abstinence. For
let a man be supposed to return from his labour with
a keen appetite, and let it be supposed, that some
one meets him at the door of his house with any
evil tidings, his child or some beloved friend is
dead, or himself threatened with some adversity ;
we know that the sudden relation of such, or the
like calamities, will have an immediate effect to
check the propensity of hunger. But whether the
first observance of fasts had their origin in those
feelings of nature, I would not presume to say ; yet
certain it is, the very mind of man since the fall
hath always leaned to somewhat of doing, or suf-
fering, by way of propitiation for the sins and
transgressions of nature. We find this principle
very general in the history of mankind. The Jews
were very tenacious of their fast days ; so were,
and so are, the Musselmen of the Turks ; and so
are modern Christians, who observe the ritual of the
form, more than regard the power of godliness. No
one can doubt, who knows any thing of the human
frame and character, that every individual by na-
ture feels in himself a disposition to enter into a
compromise or commutation with God ; and if the
Lord would but relax in certain demands which are
enforced, he shall have offerings of another kind by
way of compensation or atonement. The cry of the
heart in that sinner the prophet Micah speaks of, is
the cry of every man's heart, more or less, how-
ever differently expressed in the various languages
of the earth. " Wherewith shall T come before the
Lord, and bow myself before the High God? shall
I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves
of a year old '? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers
249
of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my trans-
gression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my
soul?" (Micah vi. 6, 7). But the grand question in
relation to fasts is, Whatsaith the word of God con-
cerning them? We certainly do not read any thing
in the divine appointment of fasts before the days
of Moses, and in the patriarchal age. And under
the law, excepting the solemn day of atonement,
there are no express precepts on the subject. That
the people of God set apart days and seasons for
the affliction of the soul is most certain, and this by
divine command, (Lev. xxiii. 27. 29.) but the reader
will be careful to observe, that there is a wide dis-
tinction between the sorrow of soul and the fast-
ing of the body. It is concerning fasts we are now
speaking; and the subject is, what authority do
they derive for observance in Scripture? When
holy men of old were, in their hallowed seasons,
mourning over the sins of fallen nature, no doubt
the bodies were neglected, in numberless instances,
in refusing to take food. Indeed, when the soul is
absorbed in grief, the body will feel but little in-
clination to meat. Joshua and the elders of Israel
fell upon their faces before the ark, and put dust
upon their heads, when the men of Ai had a mo-
mentary triumph over Israel. (Josh. vii. 6.) David
fasted in the case of his child's sickness. (2 Sam.
xii. 16.) And the apostle Paul, in the time of his
conversion, was three days without sight, and
neither did eat nor drink. (Acts ix. 9.) But all these,
and many others of a similar kind, were effects from
predisposing causes, in which fasting became in-
voluntary, and not enjoined.
Our blessed Lord gives directions how fasts are
to be observed, with an eye to the gracious improve-
ment of them, but hath not appointed any particular
seasons for their observance. (See Matt. vi. 16 — 18.
250
From whence arose the long ritual in the Romish
church, and the special season of Ember Weeks,
and the Wednesdays and Fridays in every week,
and the vigil before every saint's day, and the
whole of Lent, it is difficult to say. But while
men of no religion, and strangers to vital godliness,
may, and will take up with the outside of piety, and
abstain from their ordinary food on fast days, and
glut the appetite with dainties on feast days ; the
great question still again recurs, what can we ga-
ther from the word of God of instruction in rela-
tion to fasting ? I answer in the words of the apos-
tle, " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,
but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost." (Rom. iv. 17.)
The life of a truly regenerated believer in Christ,
is at all times, and upon all occasions, a life of absti-
nence and self-denial. Every child of God well
knows from his own experience, arising from a body
of sin and death that he carries about him, that
fleshly lusts of every kind war against the soul; that
it is impossible to be too strict in abridging every
species of indulgence in the body ; and that pamper-
ing the flesh, is only causing that flesh to rebel.
Hence, therefore,he desires to observe a perpetual
fast in things pertaining to the body, that through
grace he may put on the Lord Jesus Christ, " mak-
ing no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust there-
of." (Rom. xiii. 14.) But after the most rigid ob-
servance of humblings in the body, it is the distin-
guishing character of a truly regenerated believer
in Christ, that neither by fastings, nor prayers, nor
alms-deeds, nor offerings, no, nor the whole obser-
vance of outward or inward things, can poor fallen
man recommend himself to God. Well is it for the
faithful follower of Jesus, that He, the glorious
High Priest of our profession, " beareth away the
2f, I
iniquity of our most holy things." (Exod. xxviii. 38.)
Our fast sins, our prayer sins, our ordinance sins,
all need the cleansing laver of his blood to take
away, and but for this there could be no acceptation
of our persons, but the holy jealousy of the Lord in
the midst of fasting, pi-ayer and humiliation, might
consume us on our very knees.
FAT. In Scripture language there is something of
great importance in this word. It is used upon
many occasions to signify the best of the thing to
whatsoever it is applied. Thus the fat of the earth
is made use of to denote the whole of temporal
blessings. Thus Isaac's prophetical blessings to
Jacob. (Gen. xxvii. 28.) 8 God give thee of the
dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and
plenty of corn and wine." And as these temporal
blessings were the consequence of spiritual mer-
cies, and these all founded in Christ, nothing can
be plainer than that the fatness had an eye to Him,
in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed.
Hence, with reference to the same, the Psalmist
saith, 8 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow
and fatness." (Ps. lxiii. 5.)
The soul cannot be satisfied with earthly things;
but these are figurative expressions, to intimate the
soul-enriching blessings in Jesus. Now from these
explanations, we may discover what was all along
alluded to in the fat of the Jewish offerings. If the
reader will consult the Old Testament on the sub-
ject, he will find that in all the offerings made by
fire, the fat was wholly the Lord's. (Lev. ii. 9. to the
end.) And as it was uniformly connected with the
blood of the altar, it should seem to have been
intended all along to mean Christ. And hence it
should seem also to have been meant in allusion to
the wicked who despise Christ, that they set up
252
their own righteousness in opposition to the righte-
ousness of Jesus. Thus Jeshurun " waxed fat and
kicked : thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick;
thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook
God which made him, and lightly esteemed the
Rock(the Christ) of his salvation." (Deut. xxxii. 15.)
Hence also, such characters are said to be "enclosed
in their own fat." (Ps. xvii. 16.) If these views be
well founded, it may serve also by way of addi-
tional testimony to the truth of Scripture, that the
law in all points was but a shadow, the body is
Christ. And Jehovah so strikingly saying, " all the
fat is the Lord's," (Lev. iii. 16.) sets forth that Christ
is the Christ of God. (1 Cor. iii. 23.)
FATHER. This name in Scripture hath many ap-
plications. Not only the father of a family and
head of an house or tribe, but also it is frequently
put for the inventor of any art or science. Thus
Jnbal is said to have been the father of such as
dwell in tents ; and "Tubal the father of all such as
handle the harp or organ." (Gen. iv. 20.) And in
a yet more interesting sense, the word of God calls
them father, who stand distinguished in the church
in a way of pre-eminency, such as Abraham, the
father of the faithful, so called for the greatness of
his faith. And so on the contrary, the wicked and
ungodly are called evil. Hence Christ told the
enemies of his gospel, " Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." (John
viii, 44.)
But while we carefully attend to these distinctions,
respecting the application of the name of father in
Scripture, it should be always kept in remembrance
that the name Father is in a peculiar and blessed
sense had in special reference to God, as u the fa-
ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named." (Eph. iii. 14, 1 5.)
FE
253
Hence, in relation to him under this sweet ap-
pellation and character, the Lord Jesus himself
said to Mary after he arose from the dead, " I
ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to
my God and your God." (John xx. 17.) Christ
also is the everlasting Father of his church and
people. (Isa. ix. 6.) I refer the reader to what was
said under the article Abba, for the farther view of
the blessedness of this relationship. Nothing- can
be more sweet or consolatory. (Let the reader con-
sult also those Scriptures, Matt, xxiii. 9. Isa.
lxiii. 16. Mai. ii. 10.)
FEAR. There are several ideas intended to be con-
veyed to the mind, by that passion which is called
in Scripture fear. There is but one creature in
the creation of God, that is said to be wholly void
of fear, namely, the leviathan. (Job xli. 33.) The
fear for the most part spoken of by the word of
God, is what relates to our nature, of which there
is athreefold description, natural fear, sinful fear and
holy fear. Since the fall of man, the whole race of
Adam have known the effects both of natural and
sinful fear ; none but the regenerated are acquainted
with what is known in Scripture by a religious, or
holy fear.
Natural and slavish fear, arising from a conscious
sense of sin, manifested itself immediately upon
the fall, when Adam sought to hide himself from the
presence of the Lord amidst the trees of the garden.
(See Gen.iii. 8.) But when a poor sinner is awaken-
ed from the sleep and death of sin, and brought forth
to a new and spiritual life, " perfect love casteth out
fear." Hence the apostle saith, "Ye have not receiv-
ed the Spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father." (Rom. viii. 15.) It is very
blessed when freed from slavish fear. And it is
254
very hlessed to have that child-like fear which
marks the Lord's people. And it is very blessed
to discover how the slavish fear which bringeth
bondage is removed, and from whence the holy
child-like fear is derived. The sweet promise of
God by the prophet explains the whole. (Jer.
xxxii. 40.) u I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, that I will not turn away from them to
do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts,
that they shall not depart from me."
1 will only add, for the comfort and encourage-
ment of the Lord's timid and tried ones, who, in
the midst of strong faith, feel at times much natu-
ral fear, that it is sweetly accommodating to con-
sider the Lord Jesus Christ, in the days of his flesh,
was graciously pleased in this, as in all other points
of grace, to be our example. Of Jesus it is said,
that u though he were a Son, yet learned he obedi-
ence, by the things which he suffered. And in the
days of his flesh he offered up prayers and suppli-
cations, with strong crying- and tears, unto him
that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared." (Heb. v. 7, 8.) Sweet
and precious thought ! "Jesus who knew no sin,
yet coming to us in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin condemned sin in the flesh, knew what it was
to be sore amazed, to be sorrowful even unto
death, to fear, and to be very heavy. Reader,
think how Jesus sympathizes with his people
under their fears, and heaviness, and sorrow of
heart.
FEASTS. In the Jewish church we find much said
concerning the festivals observed ; and what makes
the subject important is, that they were of the
Lord's own appointment. They had the constant
feast of the Sabbath every seventh day, iu com-
memoration of the Lord's resting on the seventh
255
day from the works of creation. And when the
church was formed in the wilderness, they had the
several feasts as appointed in regular order. The
feast of the Passover, typical of the Lord Jesus
Christ, on their going out of Egypt. The feast of
Pentecost, the fifteenth day from the Passover, in
commemoration of the giving of the Law on mount
Sinai, fifty days after the people left Egypt. They
had also the feast of Tabernacles, which formed
the third great feast of the year, in which all
the males were enjoined to appear before the Lord.
(Deut. xvi. 16.) These were among the standing
feasts appointed by the Lord in the church of
Israel.
But beside these, they had others by the same
appointment. The feast of Trumpets of the New
Moon; the feasts of Expiation, or, as the Jews
called it, Chippur; that is, pardon; because on
this day it was considered, that an act of grace
took place from heaven, for the cleansing the sins
and infirmities of all the people through the year.
What a striking allusion to that great day of the
Lord Jesus, when " by the one offering of himself
once offered, he perfected for ever them that were
sanctified!" (Heb. x. 14.) And what a beautiful
correspondence to the same, was the prophet
Zechariah's account of this glorious event, when
speaking in the person of the Lord of hosts : " I
will remove the iniquity of that land in one day."
(Zech. iii. 9.)
In this account of the Jewish feasts we must not
overlook the feast of Jobel, or Jubilee Trumpets, in
the forty-ninth year, called the Sabbatical year, or
seven times seven. For surely, nothing could be more
striking as typical of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord made a blessed provision, by this feast, for
the freedom of every poor captive in the land.
256
I refer the reader to the account of it in the
Scriptures themselves, (Lev. xxv. throughout ;)
for it would not come within the limits of the
present work, to go through the particulars. But
of all the subjects in the Jewish church, which
pointed in a direct allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is not one more striking. And I. venture to
believe, that though this trumpet was never sound-
ed but once in forty-nine years, and consequently
few, if any, ever heard it before, or ever lived to
hear it a second Jubilee, yet there was not a soul
in the camp but understood the joyful sound, and
felt the meaning (if I may be allowed the ex-
pression,) like the archangel's trumpet, as it will
be understood by all flesh, when Jesus comes to
judgment. The rigorous master on the morning
of the Jubilee, whose tyranny then expired, under-
stood by it his sentence. And what were the feel-
ings of the poor oppressed servant, whom the Lord
hath then made free, when themoniingsherel in
the sound of the blessed, though never before heard,
trumpet !
I hope the reader will not overlook the sweetest
and most interesting part of this feast of the Jubilee.
It was the Lord Jesus in his great salvation who
was thus proclaimed. Every poor sinner, captive
to Satan, sin, and hell, who heard the sound, heard
it in the sweet voice, " Ye have sold yourselves for
nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money,
saith the Lord." (Isa. lii. 3.)
I think it highly proper, before I dismiss this ar-
ticle concerning the Jewish feasts, to remark to the
reader, the distinguishing privilege we enjoy in the
Christian church, in having all in one the sum and
substance of every feast in the person, work,
grace, and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
have our Christian Sabbaths weekly, in which we
257
commemorate all the blessings of creation, redemp-
tion, and sanctification at once. And all believers
in Christ truly find their sabbaths to be all this
and more.
Doth not every regenerated child of God in
honouring the Lord's day, honour at the same time
the Lord's work ; and while he celebrates God the
Father's resting from the works of the old creation,
celebrate also God the Father's work in the new
creation of his precious soul in Christ Jesus ? (See
Ephes. ii. 10.) And in the celebration of the sab-
bath in honour of God the Son, who by his triumph
over death, hell, and the grave, when he arose on
that day, and manifested himself to be the resur-
rection and the life ; doth not every regenerated
child of God thereby prove, u that he is risen with
Christ from dead works, to serve the living and true
God ?" Yea, doth he not manifest his personal in-
terest in that sweet promise, by those acts of giving
honour to his Lord, where it said, " Blessed and
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection ; on
such the second death hath no power. " (Rev. xx.5.)
And is not God the Holy Ghost glorified and
honoured in the Christian sabbath, at the renewal
of the sacred day, in that then is celebrated his
first open and visible display of his love and mercy
over the church, when at Pentecost he came down
upon the people ? Doth not every regenerated
child of God here also, as in the other instances,
testify, that it is by the sovereignty of his power
and grace, he is quickened to a new and spiritual
life, and now waits again on the Lord, in his holy
ordinance of the sabbath, for the renewing of the
Holy Ghost to be shed on him abundantly, through
Jesus Christ our Lord ? (Tit. iii. 5, 6.)
Surely, these are very clear and incontestible
evidences of the true commemoration of the Chris-
VOL. vi. s
258
tian sabbath, when, in the observance, special and
distinct acts of praise and honour, are given to each
glorious person of the Godhead, as they are re-
presented to us in the Scriptures of truth, in the
several character-offices of their divine agency.
And thus while each and every one hath the spe-
cial and distinct acts of praise g iven to them, for
the special acts of grace and mercy shewn to the
church in Christ, the whole form one and the same
glorious object of adoration, love, and praise, as
the eternal undivided Jehovah, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, both to the church on earth, and in
heaven, to all eternity.
Reader it is most blessed thus to see and enjoy
our privileges. The believer's feast is a continual
feast ; yea, an increasing everlasting feast, a daily
sabbaih. Jesus himself is indeed the Jubilee ; yea,
the very sabbath of the soul. And when at his
house, at his table, at his ordinances, in his word,
in every promise, and by every providence, the soul
is kept alive by grace in him, the feast is not at
stated periods only, but continual. Jesus is the life
of the soul, and the portion for ever.
FED and FEED. The expression of feeding in
Scripture is sometimes applied in a good sense, and
sometimes in a bad one. When men are nourished
with the word of life, they are said to be fed.
Hence the Lord promised to give pastors to the
church, " that should feed his people with under-
standing and knowledge." (Jer. iii. 15.) And on
the contrary, in those who take up with false doc-
trines, they are said to feed on wind. (Hos. xii. 5.) to
feed on ashes, and the like. (Isa. xliv. 20.)
But the general and principal use of the term
in Scripture of feeding, is applied to the Lord
Jesus Christ. " He shall feed his flock like a
shepherd." (Isa. xliv. 11.) And as feeding is a
259
comprehensive expression, to denote every thing-
relating to the office of a shepherd, so whenever
this act of love and attention is spoken of in
allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ, it means to
convey the whole of his character, both in his
relation as a shepherd to his people, and the
tenderness of his care over them. The church is
his flock, his property, his purchase, his glory.
He hath a perfect knowledge of all his sheep. He
provides pasture ; yea, is himself their food and
portion. He protects from beasts of prey, heals
the diseased, gathers home the wanderer, leads
the flock out to wholesome pastures, and, in short,
doth the whole office of a shepherd ; and doth it
in such a way, and with so much love and tender-
ness, that they are most blessed who belong to his
fold. Sweet thought of the Psalmist, and which
equally may be taken up by every lamb of Christ's
fold : " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
(Ps. xxiii. throughout.)
FELLOW. I should not have thought it necessary
to have called the reader's attention to this word,
had it not been to remark to him, the great beauty
of it in a double sense, when applied to the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ in relation to his fellow-
ship with his Father in the nature and essence of
the Godhead, and in relation to his fellowship
with his church in the human nature ; under both
which the Lord Jesus appears so lovely and so
endeared to his people, as to render him most
interesting indeed.
In the former sense of the word, as applied to
Christ, or spoken of him, we have that very precious
and unequalled passage of the Lord, by the pro-
phet Zechariah, thirteenth chapter, and seventh
verse, where Jehovah calls him by this name, u The
man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts."
s 2
260
Every one who knows any thing- of the common
terms made use of among men, knows also, that
fellow means equal. The very name, indeed,
would lose all its force and meaning, when spoken
of persons in common, if there were supposed the
least inequality between them. And this runs
through all ranks and orders of the people, from
the king to the beggar. The king's fellow, and
the beggar's fellow, is perfectly understood as
implying a common level. How truly blessed, there-
fore, is the word as applied by Jehovah himself to
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who but
must rejoice, when he thus receives God the Fa-
ther's own testimony to the oneness and fellowship
in the divine nature between God the Father, and
God the Son. " The man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts."
In like manner, on the same ground, how very-
blessed is it to consider him who, in his divine na-
ture, is fellow to the Lord of hosts ; in his human
nature, is fellow to his church and people. Here
again, the Lord Jehovah, the Father, gives the
like testimony ; for speaking to Joshua, the type
of Jesus, the Lord saith, " Here now, O Joshua
the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit
before thee, for they are men wondered at."
(Zech. iii. 8.) Wondered at indeed, to be fellow
to him in his human nature, who, in his divine na-
ture, " is fellow to the Lord of hosts ! " But so it
is : for the truth is undeniable. Hence Jesus
himself, by the spirit of prophecy, under the
ministry of a prophet, is introduced as saying,
" Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath
given me, are for signs and wonders in Israel ;
from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount
Zion." (Isa. viii. 18.) See this more fully explain-
ed, Heb. ii. 11 — 13.) Hence also, the Holy
261
Ghost bears testimony to the same in that glorious
Scripture, when speaking of his mediatorial throne,
and the covenanting of Christ for his people ; " Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy
kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteous-
ness, and hatest wickedness ; therefore God, thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above (or for) thy fellows : " for so the word may
be rendered. And if I were writing a Concor-
dance for the learned, and not for the poor man,
I should say the original will justify that it should
be, non proe consortibus, sed propter consortes,
(Compare Ps. xlv. 6, 7. with Heb. i. 8, 9.)
Now T beg the reader to ponder well the sub-
ject, and mark with me the blessedness and the
preciousness of it. Here are all the persons in
Jehovah testifying to this glorious character of the
Lord Jesus, as the fellow of the Lord of hosts in
his divine nature. And let me ask, what can be
more blessed or precious ? In the one, how glo-
rious to consider the foundation and security of
all that is interesting to our hopes for the life that
now is, and that which is to come. And in the
other, how very sweet and lovely it is, to know our
nearness and fellow partnership in all that is in
Christ Jesus as the Head and Husband of his
body the church, " the fulness of him that filleth
all in all." O ! with what rapture ought every
child of God to read what the Holy Ghost saith
to this purport, in the close of the second chapter
of the Hebrews. u For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed
of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he
might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. For in that he himself
262
hath suffered, being- tempted, he is able to succour
them that are tempted."
And now I hope from such unanswerable tes-
timonies to this great truth as are found in all the
persons of the Godhead witnessing- to it, the rea-
der will never be in clanger of being led away
from the uniform and unceasing belief, that he who
in his infinite grace and mercy hath made himself
our fellow, is, and hath been from all eternity,
fellow to the Lord of hosts. If any would teach
a contrary doctrine, let him first solemnly declare
whether God the Holy Ghost hath taught it him.
This question, if properly applied, would be a
dreadful silencing- to all such as pretend to be
"wise above what is written." And I would so-
lemnly recommend also, every one of this descrip-
tion, who, under the pretence of candour, is literally
joining-, however unintentionally, the Infidel's
cause, to read the history of Nadab and Abihu,
Lev. x. 2. and Uzzah, 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7.
With such tremendous judgments in view, we
should hear no more of such presumptuous rea-
sonings.
And while the Lord Jesus himself bears testi-
mony to the fellowship and equality between him-
self and his Father, saying-, u I and my Father
are one," (John x. 80.) none after this would fancy
fellow meant neighbour. Neither would such ven-
ture to say, when our Lord quoted the passage of
Zechariah, which he did in the hour of his suffer-
ing's, (see Zech. xiii. 7. compared with Matt. xxv.
31, 32.) he meant no more than a mere proverbial
expression, and had not the most distinct relation
to his suffering's and death.
FELLOWSHIP. The gospel sense of this, and
especially in the Epistle of John, (chap. i. 1 — 3.)
hath somewhat most endearing- in it. The Greek
263
word the apostle useth to express it, means part-
nership ; and implies, that the church in and
through Christ, hath an interest in all that belongs
to Christ. (1 Cor. i. 9.)
FIG TREE. I should not think it necessary to no-
tice this article in our Concordance, but for the
occasion that offers thereby of making an obser-
vation on the fig tree which the Lord Jesus
blighted near Bethany. It may be proper, for
the better apprehension of the subject, to remark,
that the fig tree grew, in Palestine, not unfre-
quently in the roads, and highways, and hedges,
beside those that were cultivated in the gardens.
It is plain, that this fig tree which Christ withered
was of this kind ; a hedge fruit, and, consequently,
it was no man's property. Matthew's account of
this transaction is, that when Jesus " saw this fig
tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing
but leaves only ; and said unto it, Let no fruit
grow on thee henceforward for ever : and pre-
sently the fig tree withered away." (Matt. xxi.
18.) And Mark adds to this relation, that u the
time of figs was not yet." (Mark xi. 13.)
It is very evident from hence, that the Lord
Jesus had an object of much higher moment to set
forth by this action, than the mere blighting a
hedge fig tree. For surely, the Lord did not ex-
pect fruit out of season ; neither did he mean, as
some have supposed, to shew anger to a fig tree.
It is well known, that in the eastern world almost
all instruction was conveyed by parable and figure.
And so much did the Lord Jesus, in his divine
teaching, fall in with this popular way of convey-
ing knowledge, that at one time we are told " with-
out a parable spake he not unto them." (Matt,
xiii. 34.) The question becomes exceedingly
interesting to know, what particular instruction to
264
his disciples the Lord meant to have impressed on
their minds by this event.
Perhaps I may be singular in my view of the
subject. But if I err, may the Lord pity and par-
don my ignorance, and the reader find no injury
from my statement of it. The whole stress of the
subject, as it strikes me, is in the nature and quality
of this fig tree. It was hedge fruit. It was in the
highway; and no man's property. Now the church
is expressly compared by the Lord himself to a fig
tree of his own, and planted in his vineyard. (Luke
xiii. 6.) And the prophet, in the Old Testament
dispensation, celebrated the glories of God's grace
to the church under a similar figure of his planting
his vineyard with a choice vine. (Isa. v. 1. &c.) The
fruitless fig tree of the hedge, and which at the com-
mand of Jesus withered away, according to my
view of the subject, was intended by the Lord to
represent the mere professors of the gospel, who
to a traveller afford leaves, but no fruit. It is,
indeed, without ; not in the garden, the church.
It cannot bring forth fruit unto God ; for the Lord
saith, when speaking of his church, * From me is thy
fruit found." (Hos. xiv. 8.) Jesus hath a right and
property in his people. They are his, both by the
Father's gift, and by his own purchase. And he
hath brought them in, and fenced them round, and
they are " trees of his right hand planting." (Isa. lxi. 3.)
The instant withering of the barren fig tree, at
Christ's command, became the emblem of what
must ultimately follow all the way-side productions
in nature, void of grace, at the great day of the
Lord. And our Lord's own comment upon the blast-
ed tree, seems very fully to justify this view of the
subject. For when the disciples remarked to Jesus
how soon the fig tree was withered away, the Lord
made this striking answer, " Have faith in God." As
265
if he had said, all are but the mere leaves of pro-
fession where there is no vital union in me. As he
said elsewhere, " I am the vine ; ye are the branches."
(John xv. 5.) If this be the right sense of the pas-
sage, and the Lord Jesus meant to teach his disci-
ples thereby, that every hedge fig tree hath no
part in the church, no owner in Christ by his
Father's gift or purchase, no union with him, and,
consequently, no communion in his graces, but must
in the hour of decision instantly wither away ; then
will this parable of the barren fig tree form one
testimony more to the numberless other testimonies
with which the word of God abounds, that the chil-
dren of the wicked one, and the children of the
kingdom, are totally separate and dissimilar from
everlasting, and so must continue to everlasting.
Tares can never become wheat ; neither can wheat
become tares. Goats must remain goats ; for their
nature cannot admit in them the nature of sheep.
The fig tree of the hedge, never planted in the
vineyard of Jesus, hath no fruit in him ; and, con-
sequently, always barren. So infinitely important is
it, to be found inChrist.
FINGER. The finger of God. This is a very com-
mon expression in Scripture, to denote the works
of God. Thus the magicians in the court of Pharaoh
were compelled to acknowledge the finger of God
concerning several of the ten plagues of Egypt
which the Lord brought upon the Egyptians. It
appears, that the Lord permitted the magicians, in
certain instances, to be led into the persuasion, that
their arts produced similar effects to the works of
Moses and Aaron. Such as in the case of the rods
becoming serpents ; but even here, is if to draw the
striking difference, Aaron's rod swallowed up their
rods. (Exod. vii. 10 — 12.) So in the turning the
river into blood. (Exod. iii. 19. 21, 22.) But this
266
permission was evidently intended to the better
conviction of their minds in other instances; and
accordingly we find the magicians themselves
openly confessing, in the case of the lice on man and
beast, "This is the fingerof God." Exod. viii. 19. Our
blessed Lord, in the days of his flesh, speaking of
his miracles, made use of the same phrase. " If I
(said Jesus) with the finger of God cast out devils,
no doubt, the kingdom of God is come upon you."
(Luke xi. 20. See Exod. xxxi. 18.)
The expression of the finger, for the whole ac-
tion, is not to us in the western world a circum-
stance so generally understood ; but it appears,
that in the east the greater part of the transactions
in common life were carried on by those means.
The silence observed by them would to us be as-
tonishing. Servants seldom spoke in the presence
of their masters. They received, for the most part,
all their commands by signs ; and in their approach
to their lord observed the most profound silence.
By the gesticulation of the body, the motion of the
eye, or the expression of the finger, directions were
conveyed, and never misunderstood.
Some writer of ancient date hath interpreted one
of the psalms of David (the hundred and twenty-
third), under this view; and indeed, if read with
an eye to this custom in the east, the beauty of it
becomes abundantly more striking. Suppose David
in that psalm had reference to the great humility
and awe with which the lowest servants approach
their lord, the expressions of his soul in that sweet
psalm would strike the mind as if thus speaking :
"Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest
in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look
unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a
maiden to the hand of her mistress, even so our
eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until he have
mercy upon us."
2(»7
FINISH. This is a blessed word in Scripture lan-
guage in application to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
prophet Daniel, when proclaiming- to the church the
time of the Messiah's coining, added this also, as
the distinguishing feature of his mission. He was
to be anointed as the Most Holy, to finish the trans-
gression, and to make an end of sin. (Dan. ix 24.)
And Zechariah no less, while describing him as the
great Zerubbabel declared, that the same hands
which laid the foundation of the spiritual temple
should also finish it. (Zech. iv. 9.) And the Lord
Jesus himself, speaking in his mediatorial character
as the Sent and Servant of Jehovah, in the close of
his ministry, lifted his eyes to heaven, and said, " Fa-
ther, I have glorified thee on the earth ; I have
finished the work which thougavest me to do." (John
xvii. 4.) And in confirmation of the same, as the last
act on the cross, he bowed his sacred head, and said,
"It is finished !" (John xix. 30.) Think reader, what a
blessed consideration this is to the mind of a poor
self- condemned sinner, conscious that he can do no-
thing but sin ; and cannot put forth a single act of
his own to obtain salvation. Oh ! how truly refresh-
ing to the soul thus to behold Christ as the law-
fulfiller, the sum and substance of all the types and
sacrifices, and Jehovah's salvation, to the ends of
the earth. Jesus ! I would say, add one blessing
more to thy finished salvation ; and " work in me both
to will and to do of thy good pleasure."
FIRE — Is one of the. great elements in nature by
which the Lord is pleased to carry on the purposes
of his holy will in the kingdoms of his government.
But in Scripture language it is used upon many oc-
casions. Jeho.vah himself is compared to a consum-
ing fire. (Deut. iv. 24. Heb. xii. 29.) And agreeably
to this, we find numberless appearances made of
the divine presence in fire. To Moses at the bush,
268
Exod. iii. 2. at the giving- of the law on Mount Siani,
Exod. xix. 18, 19. To Isaiah in the -vision, Isa. vi. 4.
To Ezekiel at the river Chebar, Ezek. i. 4. And
to the beloved apostle John at Patmos, Rev. i. 14.
Add to these, the Lord is pleased to reveal him-
self under the similitude of fire, in several parts of
Scripture. Thus the prophet Malachi describes Jesus
in his priestly office as a refiner's fire. (Mai. iii. 2.)
And John the Baptist, when drawing a comparison
between the Lord and himself, in order to exalt his
master, and set forth his own nothingness, saith, "I
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ;
but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall bap-
tize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." (Matt,
iii. 11.)
And it is worthy of farther remark, that many
manifestations of the Lord's, under the Old Tes-
tament, were made by fire. In the covenant
manifestations to Abraham, it was the represen-
tation of a " smoking furnace, and a burning lamp."
(Gen. xv. 17, 18.) In the church in the wilder-
ness, the going of the Lord before his people was
underthe form of a "pillar of fire." (Exod. xiii. 21.)
Yea, the unceasing representation of the Lord on
the altar, was by the " holy fire that never went out."
(Lev. vi. 13.) And in short, the many manifestations
made by fire of the Lord's presence and favour in
the answers of the Lord to his servants, all shew
the vast solemnity of the thing itself. (See Lev. ix.
24. Judg. xiii. 19, 20. 2 Chron. vii. 1. 1 Kings
xviii. 38.)
It must not be omitted either to observe, that
the ministering spirits and servants of the Lord
from the upper and brighter world, are frequently
spoken of under the same similitude. The Lord
is said to make u his angels spirits ; and his ministers
a flaming fire." (Ps. civ. 4.) And the Psalmist
269
elsewhere speaks of the chariots of God as cha-
riots of fire, when at the Lord's brightness that "was
before him, thick clouds passed, hail stones, and
coals of fire." (Ps. xviii. 10—12.) And Daniel, in
his lofty description, saith, that "a fiery stream issu-
ed, and came forth from before him." (Dan.vii. 10.)
And Habakkuk also, " Before him (saith he,) went
the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his
feet." (Habak. iii. 5.)
The word of God is compared also to fire. "Is
not my word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. xxiii.
29.) And hence, in allusion to the same, the Lord
Jesus declares the purpose of his coming is to this
effect. " I am come (saith Christ,) to send fire on
the earth ; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
(Luke xii. 49.) And one of the apostles declares
that in the end of the dispensation of the gospel,
" every man's work shall be tried by fire." (1 Cor.
iii. 13.)
And lastly, to mention no more, the torments of
the damned are uniformly described in Scripture
under the image of fire. Some of the most sub-
lime, and at the same time most awful passages in
Scripture, are made use of in the description.
Moses introduces the Lord as speaking in this lan-
guage. " A fire is kindled in mine anger, and
shall burn unto the lowest hell ; and shall consume
the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foun-
dations of the nations." (Deut. xxxii. 22.) And
Isaiah, as if in contemplation of the horrors of this
eternal fire, exclaims : " The sinners in Zion are
afraid ; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites :
who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ?
who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn-
ings?" (Isa. xxxiii. 14.) And our blessed Lord
adopts the same language in allusion to the same
270
awful destruction of the wicked. He speaks of a
worm that ne\er dieth, and a fire that never is
quenched. And this Jesus repeats three times,
following each other, in the same chapter. (Mark,
ix. 44 — 48.) And in his solemn description of the
last day, in the tremendous judgment of it, he hath
already recorded the very words with which he
will speak to the sinners. " Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and all his angels." (Matt. xxv. 41.) John also,
more largely dwells upon the subject in his book of
the Revelations. (See chap. xx. throughout.)
Whether this fire is to be considered as the
common, natural, and elementary fire, or whether
the expressions are figurative, hath been the subject
of much enquiry among persons whom the world
hath been accustomed to call learned. But the
world have sadly mistaken their name, in calling
those learned who would fritter away the plain truths
of Scripture into metaphor and figure. Indeed,
nothing can more strongly mark the weakness of
the human understanding, than the disputes which
have been brought forward, in different ages of the
church, by way of doing away the doctrine of the
eternity of hell-torments. For unless men could
persuade themselves, that God is not able to punish
sin (of which the miseries and sorrows of the pre-
sent life too plainly prove the contrary,) or that
God will not make good his word in doing it (which
his truth and veracity too awfully declare he will,)
it matters not in what that punishment consists.
Exactly suited to the deserts of sin, in every
instance, we may be sure it will be. Too wise to
err, too just to do wrong, becomes a decided
answer to all the indecent and unbecoming object-
tions of unbelievers.
Here, therefore, let the faithful rest. The plain,
271
the sure, the unalterable language of the word of
God on this momentous point, is summed up in a
few words. — "The wicked shall be turned into
hell, and all the nations that forget God." And at
the same time it is said : " For the needy shall not al-
ways be forgotten ; the expectation of the poor shall
not perish for ever." (Ps. xix. 1 7, 18.) This is enough
to ascertain the fact. The farther enquiry in what
that hell for the wicked consists, or what will be
the fulness of the Lord's remembrance to his poor
and needy, both these points may be very safely
left with him. The apostle Paul makes a full con-
clusion of the subject, for the exercise of faith to
the church, and such as may be sufficient to answer
all the cavils of men, until the whole comes to be
realized. Speaking to the church concerning the
unjust si; ffe rings the people of God endure from
the ungodly, he saith, " Seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you ; and to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus should be reveal-
ed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming
fire taking vengance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ ; who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from
the glory of his power, when he shall come to be
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all
them that believe." (2Thess. i. 6—10.)
FIRST and FIRST-BORN. I should not think it
necessary to detain the reader with any thing by
way of explanation to these terms, being in them-
selves sufficiently obvious, but only when applied
to the person of Christ, considered with an eye to
him, they merit attention.
We are told by the apostle to the Colossians,
first chapter, and eighteenth verse, that he who is
72
the Head of his body the church, and who is the
beginning, was also the first-born from the dead,
that "in all things he might have the pre-emi-
nence." It is astonishing to what minute circum-
stances every thing in the church of the Old Tes-
tament had a reference, by way of typifying the Lord
Jesus Christ in this pre-eminency of character, as
the first, and first-born, and first-fruits, and the first-
lings of the flock, and of the herd. As if (and which
in reality is the case), Jehovah would have every
thing shadow forth and bring forward somewhat
either by allusion, or by direct type, concerning
him who is the Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last, and sum and substance of all things, in the
ordinance of God for salvation. We find this be-
ginning even in the patriarchal age. So that Jacob,
when a-dying, though he set aside Reuben from
the right of primogeniture, for his particular of-
fence against his father, yet still speaks of the
dignity of it. * Reuben (saith he) thou art my first-
born, my might, and the beginning of my strength;
the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of
power." Then follows the sentence of degrada-
tion, "Thou shalt not excel;" that is, thou shalt
not retain the right of heirship. (Gen. xlix. 4.)
And at the formation of the church, at the Exodus
by Moses, while the first-born of the Egyptians,
both of man and beast, were all killed, the Lord de-
clared, that all the first-born of Israel, both of man
and beast, should be consecrated to him. (Exod.
xii. 29 ; xiii. 2.)
I do not presume to speak with any confidence
upon the subject ; but T would very humbly ask, Is
there not somewhat wonderfully striking in this ap-
pointment of the Lord? The Passover that was
then observed, we have authority to say, was alto-
gether typical of Christ ; for God the Holy Ghost
273
declared l>y Paul the apostle, that Christ, "our
passover, was sacrificed for us." (1 Cor. v. 7.) And
as this Passover, in the sprinkling of the blood of the
lamb of the first year, without blemish, and without
spot, on the houses of the Israelites, become the only
cause of safety, to make all the difference between
the first-born of Israel and the first-born of Egypt ;
are we not taught herefrom, that the year of
Christ's redeemed is no less the day of Christ's
vengance? (Isa. Ixiii. 4.) God will have a sacrifice
of judgment in the firstlings of his enemies, as well
as of mercy in the firstlings of his people. So
much will Jehovah in all things honour his dear
Son, as the first, and first-born, and only begotten
of his Father, that at the forming of the church
there shall be a destruction in the first-born of
those tbat hate him. I do not presume to speak
decidedly on this point ; but I cannot but conceive,
that there is somewhat very striking on this ground
in the difference here shewn between Israel and
Egypt. (Exod. xi. 17.)
And if the reader will pursue the subject
through the Bible, in the several types by which
Christ the first-born is set forth, he will, I am per-
suaded, be wonderfully struck, as he passeth
through the sacred volume, with the vast attention
manifested on the occasion.
The first-born among the children of Israel had
a precedency and birthright, which certainly
pointed to Jesus. The right of priesthood was
with the elder son, and a double portiou among
his brethren. (Gen. xlix. 8.) And if a man had
many wives, still the first-born of every one of
them was to be consecrated to the Lord.
And under this view I must not forget to ob-
serve, that the offering appointed for every male
that opened the womb, (see Exod. xiii. 2. with
VOL. VI. T
274
Exod. xxxiv. 19, 20. Lev. xii. 6. Luke ii. 21—
24.) had a direct reference to Christ. Yea, some
have thought (and it is a point worthy the most
serious consideration,) whether this direction con-
cerning the opening of the womb had respect to
any other. For strictly and properly speaking,
none but the Lord Jesus ever did open the womb.
By the miraculous impregnation of the Virgin, from
the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost, the
opening of womb was specially and peculiarly
only effected at the birth of Christ ; whereas, in
every other instance, from the creation of the
world, as anatomists well know, it is accomplished
at the time of conception. And if this be the case
in the instance of Christ, and this appointment of
dedication to the Lord of the first-born, that open-
eth the womb had respect only to Christ ; what an
eye to this one birth, all along through the whole
Levitical dispensation, was manifested by this right
of the Lord, both in the first-born of men and of
beast, to typify Christ !
I beg the reader on this occasion, as in many
others, to observe, that I presume not to speak
with any positiveness upon the subject ; I only
state it. Certain it is, that in all things, and by
every way, it was and is Jehovah's will, Jesus
should have the pre-eminency. It is blessed,
therefore, upon all occasions to discover it.
The redemption of the first-born among the
children of Israel, was usually observed with great
ceremony. The parents brought their son to the
priest, together with the appointed offering for
redemption, (See Num. xviii. 15, 16.) and the
priest received the child from his mother's hands,
with the solemn assurance, that it was her first-
born. The priest then claiming the child in right
. of the Lord, accepts at the parents' hands the
275
appointed offering-, and return the infant ; and the
day concludes in holy rejoicing-.
It forms au additional testimony, that all this was
with an eye to Christ, in that among the first-bom
of the Levites, the redemption of the first-born
was not appointed. (Num. i. 47. iii. 12, 13.) And.,
wherefore, among the Levites this exemption, for
it is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah? The
whole of Israel is said to be unto Jehovah "a
kingdom of priests." (Exod. xix. 6.) And there-
fore, in every thing, and by every way, both in a
single tribe and in the whole people, as the Lord's
chosen, as shall be typical of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In a word, Jehovah's great design all
along, and from one eternity to another, is to
glorify his dear Son. In all things and by all
things, he shall have the pre-eminence. " Every
knee shall bow before him, and every tongue con-
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father." Amen.
I will detain the reader no longer than just to
remark, that the offering of the first fruits had an
eye to the Lord Jesus, similar to what hath been
shewn respecting the first-born. For the waving
the first fruits towards heaven, and the lamb that
was to be offered with it for a burnt offering, very
plainly testified, that this also was typical. (See
in confirmation Lev. xxiii. 10 — 14.)
FISH. The Hebrews had no particular names, or
very few, for the distinguishing of the several
species of fish. It is more probable, that as the
law prohibited all that had no fins and scales, they
were not very anxious to search the rivers in pursuit
of them. (See Lev. xi. 9 — 12.) Our adorable
Redeemer, when coming to deliver his people
from a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were
able to bear, both by his precept and example,
t 2
276
• taught, that what he had c leansed became no longer
unclean. (Matt. xvii. 27. John xxi. 9. Luke
xxiv. 42.)
FLAME. See Fire.
FLESH. The word flesh hath different meanings in
Scripture. It is a word of general acceptation in
respect to animal life. Hence the apostle to the
Corinthians, chapter the fifteenth, and thirty-ninth
verse, saith, " All flesh is not the same flesh ; but
there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of
. beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds."
And, hence, when the Lord determined the total
destruction of the world, except the church pre-
served in the family of Noah, he said, "The end of
all flesh is come before me." (Gen. vi. 13.) But
beside this general acceptation of the word in
relation to all animal life, the Scripture hath
a more confined and special sense in refer-
ence to human nature. — "Hide not thyself from
thine own flesh ;" meaning, thine own nature. (Isa.
lviii. 7.)
There is another and more endearing sense of
the word flesh, when spoken of in Scripture in re-
lation to the types and affinities of families. Thus
in the instance of the sons of Jacob, when some
were for killing Joseph, Judah restrained from the
deed, saying, " What profit is it if we slay our bro-
ther, and conceal his blood ? let not our hand be
upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh."
(Gen. xxxvii. 26, 27.) And there is yet a far more
endearing sense in which the word flesh is used in
Scripture, when spoken of in the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ : the nearest of all types, and
the tenderest of all brothers. " For we are mem-
bers (saith the apostle) of his body, of his flesh,
and of his bones." (Eph. v. 30.) But the term
flesh hath also another sense, when by of op-
F L 277
position to the spirit, it is taken as a comprehensive
expression of our whole corrupt and carnal nature
by the fall. " I know (saith Paul,) that in me, that
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing1." (Rom. v.
18.) And " elsewhere the same apostle saith, The
flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the
other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would." (Gal. v. 17.) And hence when by the
gracious work of regeneration wrought in the
heart by the sovereign power of Cod the Holy
Ghost, believers are then said "to be not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in them." (Rom. viii. 9.) And hence
this new life of God in the soul is called union with
Christ, in living upon Christ, and walking with
Christ. " As the living Father hath sent me, and I
live by the Father, even so he that eateth me shall
live by me." (John vi. 57.)
FLIES. By flies in Scripture are meant, not only
those that have wings and fly in the open air, but
also insects which creep upon the earth. They are
reputed unclean by the law. (Lev. xi. 41. &c.)
The plague of Egypt of the flies, (see Exod. viii.
20, &c.) may in some measure serve to explain,
how pointed, as well as heavy, the Lord's punish-
ments on the Egyptians were. The Egyptians had
their Baalzebub, as well as the Philistines ; and
probably from the same cause. (See 2 Kings
i. 2.) Hence this dunghill idol Baalzebub, that is,
the godof the flies, they looked to to keep them from
their destroying power. So then when the Lord
made the very idol they worshipped thus contempti-
ble before them, while under the smarting of his
power, how strikingly did the Lord set forth the
distinguishing mercy to his people, in the moment
he thus visited their enemies. It is worthy of far-
278
ther remark, that it was not until this plague that
the Lord declared the separation he would put be-
tween his people and the Egyptians. I beg the
reader to turn to the Scripture account of this.
(Exod. viii. 20—26.)
I must not dismiss this article until that I have
farther observed upon it, that in all probability it
was a fly of the same species as infested Egypt,
that the Lord, by the prophet Isaiah, called for,
after that glorious prophecy concerning Christ ;
and which, it should seem, was to be among the
plagues of those who received not Christ. "The
Lord (saith the prophet,) shall hiss for the fly that
is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and
for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." (Isa.
vii. 17, 18.)
How strange soever the worship of a fly may ap-
pear to us, yet historians of modern times have
given us an account of similar honours paid by the
Hottentots to the fly ; and perhaps to this very
day the custom is not altered. Kolben in his his-
tory of the present state of the Cape of Good
Hope relates, that there is an insect about the size
of a child's little finger, that hath two wings aud
two horns, which is held in the highest veneration
by this deluded people. They sacrifice two of the
fattest sheep to this fly, whenever he appears in
their kraal, or village. And the historian farther
adds, that he thinks it impossible to drive the opi-
nion out of their minds, but that the appearance of
this insect in a kraal is an omen of great prosperity
to the inhabitants.
Having said thus much, by way of shewing to
what a degraded state our whole nature is reduced
by the fall, I hope the reader will indulge me with
making another observation, to point out the bless-
edness to which we are bronchi, in the recovery
279
from such gross ignorance, by the glorious gospel
of the ever-blessed God. Oh, what unspeakable
mercy is it to be free from all dunghill deities and
superstitious foolishness, in the knowledge of the
true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. " Thanks be
unto God, for his unspeakable gift ! " (2 Cor.
ix. 15.)
FLOCK. The church of Jesus is so often spoken of
in Scripture under the figure and similitude of -a
flock, that I could not think myself justified in
passing it by unnoticed. That Jesus is himself
called the Shepherd of Israel. (Ps. lxxx. 1.) and
sometimes the good Shepherd. (John x. 11.) and
chief Shepherd, 1 Pet. v. 4.) and the great Shep-
herd. (Heb. xiii. 20.) and the one Shepherd. (Ezek.
xxxiv. 23.) These are familiar names, by which
Christ is well known to his church in Scripture. And
consequently, as every shepherd is supposed to have
a flock, otherwise his very character of shepherd
ceaseth ; so the church hath various descriptions
also as the flock of Christ by which she is known.
The church is said by Jesus himself to be his sheep,
which his Father hath given him, and which he hath
also purchased by his blood, and made them his by
the conquests of his grace. Hence he saith, he call-
ed them all by name. He knoweth all their persons,
state, and circumstances ; goeth before them, and
inclines them to follow him. He leads them into
wholesome pastures, and causeth them to lie down
in safety. He undertakes for all their wants, heals
the diseased among them, brings home wanderers,
restores the misled, and is so watchful over the
whole of his flock, that they must all pass again
under the hand of him that telleth them. (Jer.
xxxiii. 13.) and hence it is impossible that any of
them should perish, but hegiveththem etemallife.
(John x. 1—16.)
SO F L
And what tends, it* possible, to endear yet more
this view of Christ's church as his flock, is the se-
veral properties of it. The flock of Jesus is but
one. (Song- vi. 9.) though scattered in various parts
of the earth, and divided into several folds. Both
Jew and Gentile are brought into it, and hereafter
will form " one in the general assembly and
church of the first-born, whose names are written
in heaven." (Heb. xii. 23.) And this flock of
Christ is not only one, but it forms a separate and
distinct one. For separated by distinguishing grace
and gathered out of the world's wide wilderness,
Jesus hath pent it up, and hedged it in ; so that it is
for ever separated from the wolves and beasts of
prey. Hence Jesus is represented as calling to
his church in those sweet words : " Come with me
from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Leba-
non ; look from the top of Amana, from the
top of Shenir, and Hermon, from the lions'
dens, and from the mountains of the leopards."
(Song iv. 8.)
There is another great feature of Jesus's flock,
and this is, in the present life, compared to the
world, they are but small and inconsiderable in
number. Jesus himself calleth it a little flock. " Fear
not,little flock, (said that gracious Shepherd), for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom." (Luke xii. 32.) But overlooked and des-
pised as the flock of Jesus is by the great ones of the
earth, and low and humble as they are in their own
view ; yet when they are all brought home, and
housed in his eternal kingdom, they will forma
blessed company. John, the beloved apostle, in his
days, when admitted in that glorious vision of the
Lord to see heaven opened, related to the church,
that he saw "a multitude, whom no man could num-
ber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
FL
281
tongues." (Rev. vii. 9.) And who shall say what mil-
lions since, the Lord hath gathered and taken home
to his everlasting sheepfbld above ? Oli ! the bles-
sedness of belonging- to the flock of Christ ! Well
might the prophet m the contemplation, as if speak-
ing to Jesus, the Israel of his people, cry out,
" Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beau-
tiful flock?" (Jer. xiii. 20.) And how beautiful, in-
deed, in the eyes of Jesus, must, the flock appear,
when made comely in his comeliness ! How spotless
like the whitest fleece, when washed in his blood,
covered in the garment of his righteousness, and
made all glorious within by the indwelling residence
of the Holy Ghost ! Hear what the Lord saith to his
church : " Thou art beautiful as Tirzah, O my love !
comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with ban-
ners. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are
even shorn, which come up from the washing,
whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren
among them." (Song vi. 4 ; iv. 2.)
FLOOD. This word is particularly and perhaps
especially applicable only to the deluge, when the
Lord by a flood of waters destroyed every thing
that lived upon the earth of his creatures. But the
word in Scripture is made use of to denote many-
things of an overwhelming nature. Thus, floods of
sin, floods of sorrow, floods of ungodly men, and
the like. So that there is one of the sweetest pro-
mises in the Bible, in allusion to the graces of the
Lord the Spirit, made use of in a way of illustration,
by the figure of a flood. " When the enemy shall
come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift
up a standard against him." (Isa. lix. 19.) Yea the
Lord Jesus himself adopts the figure in reference to
his own personal sufferings. "I am come, saith Christ,
into deep waters, where the floods overflow me."
(Ps. lxix. 2.) But the church takes comfort from
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FO
hence, that no water spouts of divine wrath can
cool the warm love of the heart of Jesus to his
church and people. " Many waters cannot quench
love, neither can the floods drown it." (Songviii 7.)
FLOUR. This word in Scripture is sometimes figu-
ratively used, to express the Lord's gracious deal-
ings with his people. Thus (Ps. lxxxi. 16.) Jehovah
is said to have fed his people with the finest wheat '■>
meaning, the spiritual and distinguishing blessings
he poured out upon them. Hence the consecration
of Aaron was with the finest wheat flour. (See Exod.
xxix. 1, 2.) Hence the meat-offering was of the
same. (Lev. ii. 1.) The Hebrews called all offerings
made by grain, or flour, Mincha. Were not the
whole of these offerings with an eye to Christ?
Was not Jesus the first of the finest fiour? And if
the church, while presenting their offerings of the
finest flour, with an eye to Christ, were in the ap-
pointments of the Lord, may we not, without vio-
lence to the original, suppose, that Jehovah feed-
ing the people with the finest wheat had an eve to
Christ?
FOOL. The term fool in Scripture language differs
from what is understood in the general acceptation
of the word among men. By fool we mean one that
is weak in his intellect, and an idiot. But not so in
the word of God. Thus in the psalms, " The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no God." (Ps. xiv. 1.)
But the sense is, that the wicked and ungodly have
by their action said this. So again, that pride and
haughtiness of men, which prompts them to reject
Christ, this in Scripture language is called folly.
Hence the apostle saith, "The world by wisdom knew
not God ; and it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save t hem that believe." (1 Cor. i. 21.)
By comparing two passages in Scripture together,
the sense of the word is very strongly marked.
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Thus the prophet Isaiah saith, speaking- of bad men,
that "It is a people of no understanding- ; therefore,
he that made them will not have mercy upon them,
and he that formed them will shew them no favour."
(Isa. xxvii. 11.) Now, that it might not be supposed,
that this being void of understanding- was the na-
tural and unavoidable condition of idiotism, which
brought upon them the displeasure of God, and for
which the Lord would shew them no favour, the Holy
Ghost, by his servant Job, hath very fully shewn in
what that want of understanding- consisted. " And
unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that
is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understand-
ing-." (Job xxviii. 28.)
FOOT or FEET. The Hebrews were so much ac-
customed to use parable and figure in their dis-
courses, and gesture in their conversation, to convey
to each other their meaning-, rather than by words,
that it is no wonder so many and various meaning's
should be conveyed by one and the same way.
Thus by feet they meant to denote every thing that
was humble, and conceal every thing- immodest.
"A wicked man, (saith Solomon,) speaketh with his
feet." (Prov. vi. 13.) The sense is, by motions of his
feethe conveyed somewhatindecentand unbecoming
"Toleaveolf the sandals from the feet," was an indi-
cation of sorrow, and of great humility. Thus Eze-
kiel mourned for his wife. (Ezek. xxiv. 17.) And
Moses was commanded at the bush to put off his
shoes, in token that the ground where he then stood
was holy ground. (Exod. iii. 5.) To sit at the feet
of another, implied humility. (I Sam. xxv. 24.)
Mary sat at the feet of Jesas. (Luke. vii. 38.) To
cover the feet, was a phrase used to imply attend-
ing to the wants of nature. Thus Ehud. (Judgest
iii. 24.) " To open the feet to everv one that
passed by," was an expression of whoredom. (Ezek.
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F O
xvi. 25.) These phrases serve to throw a light upon
the subject in general.
But if these things were so, and every action
relative to the feet carried with it somewhat of a
special nature, think what unequalled humbleness
that was in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of life
and glory, when he condescended to wash the feet
of poor fishermen. (See John. xiii. 3 — 8.) And
what tends to endear this action of Christ the more
is, that it was at a season, we are told, when all
things were given into his sovereign hands. Never
surely, was there an instance of equal humility.
Poor vain man, that hath nothing, yea, is himself
worse than nothing, is proud. But Jesus, who hath
all things, and is himself infinitely superior to all
things, is unequalled in humility. It were to be
wished, that all his redeemed felt more of this
spirit of their Lord. And it were to be wished,
that every poor, tried, and humble believer, would
never lose sight of this feature of character in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And let any man, and every
man, determine the point for himself: When is
Jesus most lovely, most dear, and precious? Is it
not when he is most condescending ? Suppose the
Lord Jesus were to wash my feet, as he did Peter's,
would not such an act of grace overwhelm my poor
heart with love? Yea, would not the Lord Jesus
be the more exalted to my view and in my esteem
when in his matchless grace he had been most con-
descending? How sweet are such views of Jesus!
FOREST. See Lebanon.
FOUNDATION. The word itself implies what it ex-
presses, the basis and ground-work of a building.
But in Scripture language it means Christ, the
foundation God hath laid in Zion, and on which
Jehovah hath built his church ; and against which
the gates of hell can never prevail. It is very
285
Messed to see the ground and bottom on which
this rests. It is founded in the purpose, counsel
and will of Jehovah. The everlasting- love, the
everlasting wisdom, the everlasting power of God
in which all the Persons of the Godhead are in
the great design blended, all concur and all unite.
And what endears it to the church, and gives a perma-
nency and security to the whole is, that it is unchange-
able, eternal, and for ever. And Christ in the
united nature of God and man, becomes the sure
foundation to give firmness and stability to it. He
is the wonderful Person on whom it is built ; the
Rock of ages. So that he, and he alone, in the
purposes of Jehovah, gives certainty to all that is
included in redemption, for grace here and glory
to all eternity. Well might the apostle in the con-
templation of it say, " Other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. iii. 11.)
And blessed is the corresponding experience and
testimony of true believers in the heart, when built
upon the foundations of apostles and prophets,
u Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone ; they
are in all the building fitly framed, and growing to-
gether unto an holy temple in the Lord." (Ephes. iii.
20,21.)
FOUNTAIN. This word is used in Scripture to
denote the spring and source of divine life to the
church ; and what is worthy of remark, as if to
confirm the fundamental truth of our holy faith, in
that of Jehovah existing in a threefold character
of persons, this word is equally applied to each
and to all. To God the Father, " as the fountain
of living waters." (Jer. ii. 13.) To God the Son,
who had opened a " fountain for sin and unclean-
ness to the house of David and inhabitants of
Jerusalem." (Zech. xiii. 1.) And to God the
Holy Ghost, as a u river of living water in the
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hearts of believers." (John vii. 38.) Hence the
church sings so blessedly concerning- her Beloved,
calling- him " a fountain of gardens ; a well of
living waters ; and streams from Lebanon." (Song
iv. 15.)
FOX and FOXES. From the well known subtilty
of this creature, the sacred writers make use of
his name, by way of describing craft, and hypocrisy,
and guile. Hence false prophets are called in
Scripture foxes. (Ezek. xiii. 4.) And the church
in the Canticles is forewarned against them. (Song
ii. 15.) The Lord Jesus makes application of the
name to Herod. (Luke xiii. 32.)
FREE and FREEDOM. The Scriptures consider-
ing our whole nature by the fall under ihe vas-
salage of sin and Satan, represent our deliverance
from both by grace under the character of spiritual
freedom. And Jesus, in a very striking manner,
represents the greatness of it by a contrast, drawn
to a state of slavery. " Whosoever committeth
sin (saith Jesus,) is the servant of sin ; and the
servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the
son abideth ever. If the son, therefore, shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John viii.
34—36.)
FRIEND. The word friend in the language of
Scripture is very general ; but eminently so when
spoken of Christ. Abraham is called " the friend
of God." (2 Chron. xx. 7.) And the friendship of
David and Jonathan is proverbial. (1 Sam. xviii. 3.)
But all friendship falls to the ground, when brought
into any comparative statement with that of the
friendship of the Lord Jesus. " Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends." So Speaks Jesus himself.
(John xv. 13.) But though no man ever mani-
fested greater love than this, yet the God-man
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himself far, very far, exceeded it ; for he laid
down his life for his enemies. (Rom. v. 8.) And
what unceasing-, what everlasting, what unexampled
proofs did Jesus give of his friendship, before
it came to this last finishing act of love in dying
for his people. He engaged from everlasting as our
Surety ; he took our nature, married our persons,
paid all our debts, cancelled all our insolvency, bore
the whole weight and pressure both of our sins
and his Father's wrath, endured the contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest we should be weary
and faint in our minds ; and having died for us,
he took up both the person and the causes of all
his people. He is now carrying on the whole
purposes of redemption, and never intermits one
moment an unceasing attention to our present and
everlasting interests ; neither will he, until that he
hath brought home all his redeemed to glory, that
u where he is, there they may be also." Well
might the spouse in the Canticles, in the contem-
plation of such unheard of unexampled love, ex-
claim, u This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem!" (Song v. 16.)
FRONTLETS. We find in the law of Moses a
precept concerning frontlets. (Exod. xiii. 16.
Deut. vi. S.) And though we, under the glorious
dispensation of the gospel, have no direction con-
cerning them, yet it may not be improper, nor
perhaps unprofitable, to notice them in a cursory
way.
The religious world hath been divided in opi-
nion concerning what was intended by frontlets.
Some have contended that the precept was not
meant in the literal sense of the word, but only
figuratively. By frontlets between the eyes, they
say, was shadowed, that all the Lord commanded
should be continually before their eyes, that they
288
might never lose sight of his precepts. And in
confirmation of this opinion, it is said, that before
the church was carried into Babylon, they were
not known. And we do not find a word in any of
the prophets in respect to their neglect, or the use
of them. That they were in use in the days of
our Lord seems more than probable ; for Jesus,
speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees, said, 8 that
they made broad their phylacteries." (Matt, xxiii. 5.)
It doth not appear, that our Lord condemned
the use, but the abuse of them ; and from the mo-
tive for which they wore them — to be seen of men.
But those who accept the precept of Moses in the
literal sense of the thing itself, not only believe,
that the Hebrews wore frontlets, but have describ-
ed the form and manner in which they were worn.
The account is gathered from the thirteenth chap-
ter of Exodus, and from portions of the book of
Deuteronomy. If the reader will consult those
chapters, he will find four distinct precept- ; w hich
four precepts they say, were marked on four pieces
of a kind of skin or parchment, and wore on
their foreheads. The first was, 8 Sanctify unto me
all the first-born," &c. (Exod. xiii. 2— ifJ.) The
second was, 8 When the Lord shall bring thee
into the land of the Canaanites," &c. (Exod. xiii.
11 — 16.) The third was taken from the book of
Deuteronomy, 8 Hear, O Israel ! the Lord our
God is one Lord." (Dent. vi. 4, 5.) And the
fourth was taken from Deut. xi. 13 — 21. " If
thou shalt hearken diligently unto my command-
ments," &c.
The frontlets of the head were called by the
Jews Tephila. It is said, that even in modern
times the most devout of the Jews wear them in
their devotions. What a blessedness is it, in the
holy faith the believer in Jesus is called to, that
289,
our great High Priest bears the names and per-
sons of liis people on his breast and on his arm,
and is himself the sweet and holy frontlet for all
the redeemed. How beautiful and expressive the
prayer of the church on this point. (Song- viii. 6.)
FRUIT and FRUITS. In addition to what hath
been already offered under the title of First
Fruits (which see,) it may not be amiss to observe,
that the holy Scriptures are full of expressions to
denote the blessedness of the fruits of the Spirit.
The Lord in the Old Testament Scripture gave ex-
ceeding great and precious promises of blessings,
which were to be expected in the fruits and effects
under the New Testament dispensation ; and in
the gospel the Lord Jesus confirmed the whole,
when promising to send the Holy Ghost, and tes-
tified of his manifold gifts which should follow. (Isa.
xliv. 3 — 5 ; John xiv. xv.and xvi. chapters through-
out ; 1 Cor. xii. throughout.)
FULL and FULNESS. These expressions, when
spoken in Scripture with an eye to the Lord Jesus
Christ, imply more than language can convey, or
the imagination conceive. Jesus Christ, as the
glorious Head of his body the church, is the ful-
ness that filleth all in all. So the apostle speaks,
Ephes. i. 23. And in the same Epistle he saith,
speaking of Christ, u that he ascended up far above
all heavens, that he might fill all things." (Ephes:
iv. 10.) But when we have read those expressions,
and pondered them to the utmost, what adequate
conception have we of their meaning? So again,
when it is said, that " in him dwelle!h all the ful-
ness of the Godhead bodily : (Col. ii. 9.) who shall
undertake to say what that is? Not Jehovah
dwelling in the God-man Christ Jesus, by filling
that nature with grace and glory, as the Lord
Jesus by his holy Spirit dwells in the saints, and fills
VOL. VI. U
590
their hearts, and unites himself to them, and they
to him, by grace here, and glory above. Not
thus ; but the Godhead dwells in Christ Jesus, and
fills that nature of Christ Jesus in a personal bodily-
union ; as fire fills the iron substantially that is
in it, so that it becomes itself fire from that
union. Who shall go farther, and determine what
this is ?
And what endears all these precious views of
our Lord in his fulness is, the interest his redeemed
have in it. The apostle adds to this account of
the Godhead in his fulness dwelling in Christ
bodily, " and ye are complete in him." Here is
the blessedness of the whole, as it concerns our
happiness, and security, and glory in him. Hence
the church is called u the glory of Christ." (2 Cor.
viii. 23.) And so the church is ; for it is, indeed,
Christ's glory, to give out of his fulness to his body
the church, as the glorious Head of the church. And
although his own personal glory is in himself, and to
himself, in the Godhead, of his nature and essence,
being * one with the Father, over all, God blessed
lor ever;" yet in his mediatorial glory, as the
Head of his body the church, " of his fulness do
all the members receive, and grace for grace."
And it is the glory of the Lord Jesus to give out, and
to make that body glorious like himself, and from
himself, to be his glory for ever. Oh ! the bless-
edness of thus beholding the fulness of the Lord
Jesus. Oh ! what encouragement to the faith of
the Lord's poor, needy, empty people. In Jesus's
fulness we are full ; in Jesus's glory we are glori-
fied ; yea, it is Jesus's glory to receive me, to
give out to me, and to be more glorious in thus
receiving and giving. Hallelujah !
FURLONG. See Mile.
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G.
GABBATHA. A memorable word in the believer's
recollection, and rendered both solemn and sacred
to the meditation, when frequently by faith the soul
is looking- over again the transactions at the hall
of Pilate. The word Gabbatha our translators
have thought proper to preserve, in our Testa-
ments, in the original Hebrew ; and yet have
given the English of it, calling it Pavement. (John
xix. 13.) It means an elevated spot; probably
it formed a balustrade, or gallery, from whence to
the court below, Pilate might more conveniently
speak to the people. Let the reader figure to
himself this gabbatha, with a seat for the Governor
to sit above the people, and probably separated
by railing. Let him fancy he sees the rabble
below surrounding the sacred person of our Lord,
and crying out, " Away with him, away with him ;
crucify him." Let him behold the meek and suf-
fering Lamb of God, silent, patient, and submis-
sive. And while with that contempt which marked
Pilate's character, we hear him say, " Shall I cru-
cify your king ? " the chief priests, unconscious
of what they said, answered, " We have no king
but Cassar ;" thereby fulfilling the dying patriarch
Jacob's prophecy (that "the sceptre should not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come ;" Gen. xlix. 10. and thus
proving from their own testimony, that the Shiloh was
come.) Let all these interesting views be but in
the reader's contemplation when he reads of these
transactions, and he will have a lively idea of the
Gabbatha of Pilate's palace.
GABRIEL. The messenger sent to Daniel, and to
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Zacharias, and to the Virgin Mary. (Dan. ix. 21.
Luke i. 11 — 26.) His name is compounded of
Gaber, strength ; and I-el, my God. — Man of
God, or God is my strength.
GAD. We meet with this name in the holy Scrip-
tures, to denote three very different characters.
The first is one of Jacob's sons, which he had by
Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, (Gen. xxx. 11.) and
she called his name Gad, which signifies armed ;
and, therefore, in the margin of our Bibles it is
marked a troop, or company. The second Gad
we meet with, is the prophet Gad, David's seer.
(2 Sam. xxiv. 11.) The character of this man is
well spoken of, by his conduct and faithfulness, in
Scripture. He was much attached to David ;
(See 1 Sam. xxii. 5.) yet faithful to the Lord at
the time of David's transgression. (See 2 Sam.
xxiv. 10 — 19.) We read also, that Gad com-
piled a history of the acts of David. (See 1 Chron.
xxix. 29, 30.) The third mention of Gad is as an
idol. There was a Baal-Gad in the valley of
Lebanon. (Josh. xi. 17.) And the prophet Isaiah
speaks of some u who prepared a table for that
troop [Gad,] and that furnished a drink offering
for that number." [meni.] (Isa. lxv. 11.) The
dying patriarch Jacob blessing his sons, made
a memorable prophecy concerning Gad : u A troop
(said Jacob) shall overcome him, but he shall over-
come at the last." (Gen. xlix. 19.) Considered
in a temporal sense, this was literally true. For
the Gadites were a numerous tribe, and a warlike
tribe. We find no less than forty-five thousand
six hundred and fifty, came out of Egypt, (Num.
ii. 15.) " men both of might, and men of war, fit
for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler;
whose faces were like the faces of lions, and
were as swift as the roes upon the mountains."
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(1 Chron. xii. 8.) And considered in a spiritual
sense, the seed of Israel, though frequently overcome
by troops of foes, yet though conquered, still they
are a conquering- people. Troops of lusts, troops
of corruptions, troops from hell, and troops from
the world, may, and will, bring the poor exercised
soul too often under : yet the victory is still on the
side of Jacob's seed. The praying seed of Jacob, at
length come off' as the prevailing Israel ; for they
must overcome " by the blood of the Lamb," and
be more than conquerors through his grace mak-
ing them so.
GADARA and GADARENES. A place and people
made memorable by the visit of the Lord Jesus. It
was a city of Palestine, so called, perhaps, from
being walled, from Gedar, surrounded or trooped
in. Here it was, that Jesus met the man with an
unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the
tombs, whom no fetters nor chains could bind,
and whom Jesus healed. It forms a most inter-
esting miracle, in the account of Christ's ministry,
(See Mark v. 1 — 30.) Who can say, but that the
Lord Jesus directed his steps to this very spot, pur-
posely for the salvation of this poor man, . and
him only? For we are told, that while he sat at
the feet of Jesus, (after that the Lord had dispos-
sessed the evil spirit) clothed, and in his right
mind : the Gadarenes began to pray Jesus to de-
part out of their coasts. What higher proofs can
be needed to mark distinguishing grace ! What
an act of mercy had Jesus wrought, not only to
the poor demoniac, but to the whole country, in
delivering them from his violence and outrage,
while under possession of the devil. And yet>
though thus freed from all apprehension in fu-
ture ; the presence of Him, that by his sovereign
and Almighty power, had wrought the gracious
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act, is painful to them. "Depart from us, for we
desire not the knowledge of thy ways l*5 (Job xxi-
14.) And awful to say, but too true to be ques-
tioned, such is the language of every man's
heart by nature.
GALATIA. A province in Asia Minor. Here
the apostle Paul preached, and it should seem
that the apostle Peter had done the same, for
he directs his first Epistle to the Jews scatter-
ed there. Here there were several churches,
for Paul expressly sends his Epistle to the
churches of Galatia. It should seem by the' ac-
count which we have, (Acts xvi. 6. and again,
Acts xviii. 23.) that Paul laboured personally with
the Galatians, at two different periods, if not of-
tener. The church of Christ finds cause to bless
God for having directed Paul's mind to this peo-
ple, which gave rise to this most blessed Epistle.
The plan of justification by Christ is so plainly
and beautifully set forth in that Epistle, that we
have daily reason to adore the riches of grace
for the mercy. Neither is it probable, that the
church would have known the history of Sarah
and Hagar, to have been a type and allegory
of the covenants, had not that Scripture said so.
GALILEE. A province in Palestine. Nazareth
was a city of Galilee. And as the Lord Jesus
was brought up in this city, he was called, by
way of reproach, the Galilean. Isaiah, speaking
of the gospel, ages before Christ came, pointed
to this memorable spot, as comprehensive of all
blessings in the advent of Jesus ; and Matthew-
made application of the prophet's words to Christ.
* The land of Zebulon, and the land of Naphtali,
by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, in Galilee of
the nations. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light : they that dwell in- the
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295
land of the shadow of death , upon them hath the
light shined." (Isa. ix. 1, 2. Matt. iv. 15, 16.)
GALL. This word is used in Scripture, vari-
ously, but in all it means to convey an idea of
great bitterness. The drink of bitter sorrow, is
called, " the water of gall." (Jer. viii. 14.) And
sin is sometimes described under the figure of
" the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity."
(Acts viii. 23.) Moses, describing the apostacy
of any man or woman, or family, or tribe in Israel,
calls it, " the root that beareth gall and wormwood."
(Deut. xxix. 18.) And elsewhere, speaking of
Israel's enemies, and their sad prospects, strongly
marks the bitterness even of their comforts under
this figure. " For their vine is of the vine of
Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah ; their
grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter."
(Deut. xxxii. 32.) The Lord Jesus, speaking of
his sufferings on the cross, noticeth " the gall the
Jews gave him to eat, and the vinegar to drink."
We are told, that in his thirst they gave the Lord
"wine mingled with myrrh." It was a custom
with the Romans in their execution of criminals, to
blunt their pains in this way. Bitter myrrh, with
wine or vinegar, had a tendency, it was thought, to
accomplish this purpose. And thus they treated
K the Lord of life and glory." But how little did
they know, what thirst of soul Jesus felt in that
earnestness and vehemency he endured for the
salvation of his people. Solomon had before said,
"Give strong drink unto him that is ready to
perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts ;
let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember
his misery no more." (Prov. xxxi. 6, 7.) The
strong drink of Jesus was the cup of salvation for
his redeemed. To Jesus " a cup of trembling ;"
29G
to them the cup of rejoicing. Here lie was to see
"the travail of his soul, and be sati-fied." In
drinking of this draught, bitter as it was, and to
the dregs, Jesus forgot all his sorrows, and re-
membered his misery no more. Oh ! that the
drunkards of Ephraim would seriously lay this to
heart. Oh ! that every follower of the Lord Jesus
would now take "the cup of salvation, and call
upon the name of the Lord."
GALLERY and GALLERIES. I should not have
paused at this word, but for the better apprehen-
sion of what the church saith of " holding the
king in the galleries." (Song vii. 5.) The proper
idea of the gallery in the eastern buildings is ne-
cessary, in order to enter into the sense of this
passage. Dr. Shaw in his Travels, page 274-5,
tell us, that the court in the summer-season, among
persons of rank, is sheltered from the heat, or
inclemency of the weather, by a velum umbrella,
or veil ; which being expanded upon ropes from
one side of the parapet wall to the other, may
be folded or unfolded at pleasure. The Psalmist
seems to have an allusion to this, when speak-
ing of the covering above, he describes the
Lord as " spreading out the heavens like a cur-
tain." (Ps. civ.) This court is, for the most
part, surrounded with a cloister or colonnade,
over which there is a gallery erected of the
same dimensions with the cloister, having a bal-
lustrade of carved or latticed work. From the
cloister and gallery, there is a passage into large
and spacious chambers. It should seem, there-
fore, that by the act of "holding the king in
the galleries" is meant, that here the church de-
tained Jesus for sweet communion and fellowship.
And here they had frequent meetings, unnoticed
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297
iiul unknown to others ; in which the Lord open-
ed to his church the secrets of his love, in lead-
ing her into the chambers of his covenant mercy
and grace ; and the church held him fast
in those galleries, not suffering him to depart
until " that she had brought him whom her soul
loved, as she saith elsewhere, into her mother's
house, and into the chamber of her that con-
ceived her." (Song iii. 4.)
That this is the sense of the expression of" hold-
ing the king in the galleries" seems plain, from
another consideration ; namely, that the word held
signifies being bound as a prisoner with chains
and fetters. And this corresponds to the whole
passage ; yea, to the whole song. For while
the church is made blessed in Christ, as her
Head, which is said to be upon her " like Car-
mel, and the hair of her head like purple ;" mean-
ing, that Christ being the Head of his body the
church, high, like the lofty mount Carmel, all
the innumerable members on him beautiful as the
purple coloured hair, the most lovely and va-
lued among eastern women, the Lord praises
his church with saying, " How fair and how plea-
sant art thou, O love, for delights ! Thou hast
ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse ! thou
hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes,
with one chain of thy neck." (Song iv. 9.)
The reader will indulge me, I hope, with barely
adding, that if such was the sweet result of Jesus
being held by the church in the galleries of old,
surely, believers now ought to take confidence and
delight to detain the Lord in the galleries of ordi-
nances ; from whence, while they hold him fast by the
lively actings of faith and prayer, like the wrestlings
of their father Jacob of old, (See Gen. xxxii. 26.)
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they may be led by him into the chambers of rich
communion, in the high privilege of near and fa-
miliar enjoyment of all covenant blessings. It is
by these gracious acts the Lord acknowledged
the church, and, consequently, every individual
of the church to be his bribe, when as the church
elsewhere saith, * The king hath brought me into
his chambers." (Song i. 4.) "For there Jesus ma-
nifested himself to his people otherwise than he
doeth to the world. (John xiv. 21, 22.) And
until that he brings them home to the marriage-sup-
per of the Lamb in heaven, while upon earth, having
espoused them to himself, he brings them by faith
into his chambers, opens to them more and more of
his unsearchable riches, gives a foretaste of the
glory hereafter to be revealed, and by the gracious
influences of his Holy Spirit, induceth all those
blessed effects in the soul which the apostle Peter
so delightfully describes : " Whom having not
seen, ye love ; in whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable,
and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even
the salvation of your souls." (1 Pet. i. 8.)
GALLEY. The name of a ship used in the early
days for annoyance, and not trade. Mention is
made of it by Isaiah, chap, xxxiii. 21. Since navi-
gation hath in modern times been carried to such
an extent, the idea of a galley with oars is not calcu-
lated to make much alarm. But in the remote age
of the church in which the prophet ministered,
a galley with oars was as formidable as now a fleet
of ships of war.
Who could have thought, that in the first at-
tempt of joining a few rafters together to float
around the creeks and shores of the sea, an idea
would ever have been started in the human mind,
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to venture into the open ocean ; yea, and to cross
the great Atlantic by means of any vessel con-
structed by human art ? And even when long
experience had found the measure practicable, and
commerce opened her rich invitations to men of
different countries and climates to barter with each
other their traffic by means of shipping, what ima-
gination was vast enough to have conceived the
possibility of making such floating machines instru-
ments for human destruction? Could it ever have
entered into the heart of any man to conceive,
that the time would arrive when nations would
construct vessels of the magnitude we now behold
them, stored with implements for war, and that
they should meet on the mighty waters purposely
for battle ? The storms and tempests of the great
deep are in themselves at times so tremendous^
that the stoutest and strongest built ships are upon
these occasions as nothing, when "men are car-
ried up to the heavens, and down again to the
depths ; and the souls of the mariners are melted
because of the trouble." (Ps. cvii. 23 — 31.) In-
deed, in the calmest seasons at sea, it may be
truly said, that there is but a step between the
whole ship's company and death. (1 Sam. xx. 3.)
It is said of Anacharsis, that when he was de-
manded where the majority of mankind was to be
numbered, among the dead, or the living ? he said,
You must first tell me in which class I am to rank
seamen. Intimating by the answer, as if he thought
they were in the midway, and belonged to neither.
But in vessels of war fitted for destruction, we be-
hold to what a state of presumption and evil sin
hath hardened the mind.
There is a beautiful thought suggested in the
passage of Isaiah, where he speaks of the galley
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with oars, which may be in some measure a relief
from the distressing views before noticed; and for
the introduction of which, indeed, I have men-
tioned this article, and that is, the peculiar security
of the Lord's presence over his people upon such,
and upon every other occasion of alarm. The pro-
phet, when speaking of this galley with oars, was
speaking also of Jerusalem, the holy city, as a
quiet habitation, a tabernacle not to be taken down.
" But there (said he) the glorious Lord will be
unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein
shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant
ship pass thereby." (Isa. xxxiii. 20, 21.) The great
beauty of the figure lies in this, that Jerusalem had
no rivers of any extent. The brook Kidron, which
emptied itself into the Dead Sea, was the only one
near it. So that having no sea to keep off an enemy,
and no frontiers or garrison-walls to keep and secure
it by land, Jerusalem lay open on all sides. But,saith
the Lord by the prophet, " the glorious Lord will
be, instead of all these to us, aplace both of broad
rivers and streams." No galley with oars can come
into that river, which is God himself. No gallant ship
can pass by him, who is purposely there to prevent
it. Sweet thought ! The tacklings of the enemy
may be loosed, but they can neither strengthen
their mast, nor spread their sail. u The Lord is our
judge ; the Lord is our law-giver ; the Lord is our
king : he will serve us." (See the whole passage,
Isa. xxxiii. 20. to the end.)
GAMALIEL. Paul's teacher of the law. His name
is probably derived from Gamal, gift ; and I-el,
my God.
GARDEN. It would be wholly unnecessary to
notice the name of garden (taken from the Hebrew
word Gan), being so generally understood, were it
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not that the church of Christ is so frequently re-
presented under the similitude. Indeed, the church
is sometimes called gardens, to denote both their
number and variety ; by which is meant, the par-
ticular names of the churches of Jesus, such as the
apostles of Christ; yea, Christ himself directed
Epistles to the churches at " Rome, Corinth,
Galatia, Philippi," and the like, and the seven
churches in Asia. But though these were diversi-
fied, and scattered abroad in the earth, yet still,
after all, the church of Christ is but one and the
same. So said Christ himself. " My dove, my
undefiled, is but one ; she is the only one of her
mother : she is the choice one of her that bare
her." (Song vi. 9.) The Jerusalem which is above,
and which is the mother of us all, knows but of
one church, of which Jesus is the Head ; for both
Jew and Gentile will ultimately be brought into
one fold. And in the meantime all true believers in
Christ have one faith, one hope, one spirit, one
heart and affections ; all united to their glorious
Head, and all united to each other, as " members of
his body, his flesh, and his bones." (Gal. iv. 26.
John x. 16. Ephes. iv. 4, 5 ; v. 30.) And what en-
dears the whole, and renders it most blessed is, that
Christ the glorious Head, to whom the whole body
is united, supplies all, justifies all, sanctifies all, and
is himself the all of life and strength, and the portion
to his people, in grace here, and glory hereafter. So
sung the church, and so all the redeemed know. " A
fountain of gardens is my beloved, said the church,
a well of living water, and streams from Lebanon."
(Song iv. 15.)
And while we eye Jesus as the source of life and
fruitfulness to his garden the church, it is blessed
to see how very lovely the similitude of a garden,
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corresponds to the state of Christ's church. As
first a garden is an enclosure, separated and fen-
ced round ; so the church stands in the midst of
the world's wide wilderness, gathered from it by
sovereign grace. (Song iv. 12. Isa. v. 1, 2.) Se-
condly, a garden is the property of some owner;
it is not alike common or open to all : so is the
church. Jesus hath bought it with his blood ; the
Father hath given it to Christ by grace ; and the
Holy Ghost hath made it Christ's, by the sealing
act of covenant faithfulness. Thirdly, a garden is
distinguished from the common fields or hedges of
the highway, by having nothing growing there but
what has been planted; exactly thus with the
church. Every thing in it is of the Lord's right
hand planting; for Jesus saith himself, " Every plant
which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up." (Matt. xv. 13.) Fourthly, in a garden
there are great varieties of plants and shrubs, and
fruit-trees and flowers ; so in Christ's church the
fruits of the Spirit appear in a beautiful and regular
order, some by the exercise of one grace, and others
by another, but " all these worketh that one and
the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man seve-
rally as he will." (1 Cor. xii. il.) Fifthly, a gar-
den is under the eye and inspection of its owner,
and very frequently visited by him; and the
Lord Jesus is said to have his eyes upon his
Judea from the one end of the year even to the
other end of the year. Yea, the Lord Jesus walks
in his garden the church, and makes this his sa-
cred haunt, where he delights to come and visit his
people. The church speaks of her Lord to this
effect : " My beloved is gone down into his garden,
to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to
gather lilies." (Song vi. 2.) And elsewhere she
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invites Jesus to come into his garden, and to eat
of his pleasant fruits. And Jesus as instantly ac-
cepts the invitation, and saith, " I am come into
my garden, my sister, my spouse ! 1 have gathered
my myrrh with my spice." (Song iv. 16; v. 1.)
Sixthly, a garden requires much care in dressing,
and pruning, and weeding, and the like ; so the
church of Jesus hath the constant care of her Lord.
He saith himself, "I the Lord do keep it; I will
water it every moment, lest any hurt it; I will keep
it night and day." (Isa. xxvii. 3.) And how, through
pruning dispensations weeding out the remains of
indwelling corruption in the heart, and by the dig-
ging round and nourishing the graces of her
Lord's own planting, doth Jesus keep alive and
cause to flourish the several circumstances of his
church and people. And lastly, to mention no
more, as in gardens the owners gather for their
use the several productions of their gardens, so
Jesus for his own glory gathers the fruits of his own
Holy Spirit, planted in the hearts of his redeemed
while on earth, gathers their persons at death, and
transplants them into his garden above, to flourish
under his almighty hand in glory for ever. So
very beautiful is the similitude of a garden to the
church ; and, no doubt, under several other parti-
culars the allusion might be found to correspond.
Jesus ! I would say, let thy garden thy church be
always blessed with thy presence !
GAREB. The word means a pitcher. It was a
hill near Jerusalem. (See Jer. xxxi.39.) If this
hill was, as it is said to have been, three miles
distant from Jerusalem, it serves to give a beau-
tiful idea of the future extensiveness of the holy
city. (See Ezek. xl. &c. Zech. ii. &c. Rev. xxi. 10.
to the end.)
GARMENT. The wedding garment of Scripture,
304
particularly spoken of, (Matt. xxii. 11.) hath been a
subject of so much anxiety to many precious souls,
that the matter itself ought to be put in the clearest
light possible. The general belief is, that by it is
meant Christ's person, work, and righteousness.
And hence the church is represented as singing, u I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord : my soul shall be
joyful in ray God, for he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with
the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh
himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth
herself with her jewels." (Isa. lxi. 10.) And this cor-
responds to what the Lord Jesus counselled the
church of Laodicea to buy of him "white raiment,
that she might be clothed." (Rev. iii. 18.) Hence,
therefore, what is the garment, but Christ's righte-
ousness, in which all the faithful are clothed, when
justified in the perfect salvation of the Lord?
GATE and GATES. In Scripture these expressions
are not limited to the doors, or entrances, into an
house, or city ; but the term is figuratively made
use of to denote place, or person, or people. Thus
the gates of hell means bell itself; gates of judg-
ment, the place where justice was awarded. " Salva-
tion will God appoint for walls and bulwarks ;"mean -
ing, that all rests upon this bottom, in a way of
grace, mercy, and salvation. (Isa. xxvi. ] .)
GATH. A city in the land of the Philistines, from
Gath, a press. Hence Gath-opher, to dig at the
wine press, from Chaphar, to dig; and Gath, a
press. So Gathrimmon, the press of the pome-
granate, from Gath, a press ; and Riiumon, a pome-
granate tree.
GAZA. Another city in the land of the Philistines.
This was given by Joshua to Judah. (Josh. xv. 47.)
GENEALOGY. This record of families which we
call genealogy, is termed in Hebrew Sepher Tole-
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doth ; or the book of generations. The Jews were
particular to an excess, to record their families ;
no doubt, with an eye to Christ.
GENERATION. This word derived from the same
root is much the same as the preceding- word
genealogy. As it relates to the common act of
man in the circumstances of descent from father to
son, I should not have though it needful to have
detained the reader with a single observation ; but
in relation to the Son of God, as God, it becomes
of infinite importance as an article of faith, that
we should have the clearest apprehension which
the subject will admit. Here, therefore, I beg the
reader's close attention to it.
The Scriptures in many places have said so much
in defining the person of the Father and of the
Son, as distinctions in the Godhead, that there can
be nothing rendered more certain and as an article
of faith to the believer, and none is more irnportant-
But while this is held forth to us in this view as a
point most fully to be believed, God the Holy
Ghost hath in no one passage, as far as 1 can re-
collect, pointed out to the church the mode of exist-
ence, or explained how the Son of God is the Son,
and the Father is the Father, in the eternity of
their essence and nature. Perhaps it is impossible
to explain the vast subject to creatures of our ca-
pacities. Perhaps nothing finite can comprehend
what is infinite. The doctrine of the eternal gene-
ration of the Son of God is therefore proposed as
an article demanding our implicit faith and obedi-
ence; and here the subject rests.
But while this doctrine of the eternity of the
Son of God in common with the Father, is held
forth to us in the Scripture as a most certain
truth, though unexplained, because our faculties
are not competent to the explanation of it, the
vol. vi. x
306
Holy Ghost bath been very explicit in teaching the
church how to understand the phrases in his sacred
word, where the Son of God, when standing up as
the Mediator and Head of his church before all
worlds, is called the f first begotten Son, and the
only begotten of the Father," full of grace and truth.
All these and the like phrases wholly refer to'the
Son of God, in his humbling himself as our Re-
deemer and Mediator, the God-man in one person,
Christ Jesus ; then begotten to this great design ;
the first in all Jehovah's purposes for salvation.
Here we cannot be at a loss to have the clearest
apprehension ; because they refer to his office-
character. Hence, all those titles are'very plain.
" He is the head of his body the church." (Ephes.
i. 22.) The Head of Christ is God. (1 Cor. xi. 3.)
He is Jehovah's servant. (Isa. xlii. 1.) and his
Father is greater than he. (John xiv. 28.) And
God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. (Ephes. i. 17.) All these and numberless
expressions of the like nature, wholly refer to
the Son of God as Christ; and have no respect to
his eternal nature and Godhead abstracted from
his office-character as Mediator. See Begotten.
And I cannot in this place help expressing my
wish that the writers of commentaries on the word
of God had kept this proper distinction, when
speaking of the Lord Jesus, between hia eternal
nature and essence, as Son of God, which is every
where asserted, but no where explained, and his
office-character as God-man Mediator, the Christ of
God, which is fully revealed. The Scriptures have
done it. And it would have been a proof of divine
teaching, if all writers upon the Scriptures had
done the same. Our almighty Saviour, in a single
verse, hath shewn it, when he saith, (Matt. xi. 27.)
"No man knoweth the Son but the Father ; " that is,
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knoweth him as Son of God, knoweth him in his
Sonship as God, one with the Father, and impos-
sible to be so known but by God himself. And it is
in this sense also, that it is said, " No man hath
seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son,
which lay in the bosom of the Father, he hath de-
clared him ; " (John i. 18.) that is, no man hath seen
God, as God, in his threefold character of person,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But when he who
lay in the bosom of the Father came forth in our
nature, and revealed him as the Father and him-
self as the Son, equal in the eternity of their nature
as God ; then the glorious truth was explained.
Then was it understood, that the Father, as Father,
and the Son, as Son, were from all eternity the
same; their existence the same, their nature the
same ; the Father not being Father but in the
same instant as the Son the Son ; for the very
name of the one in the relationship implies the
other, and the eternity of the one including the
eternity of the other also. So that both, in union
with the Holy Ghost, form the one eternal un-
divided Jehovah, which was, and is, and is to
come.
GENESIS. The first book of Moses ; so called be-
cause it contains the genealogy of the patriarchs-
The original name in Hebrew is Berescheth, begin-
ning. It includes a period of near two thousand
four hundred years, from the beginning of the world
to the death of Joseph.
GENTILE. The Hebrews called the Gentiles, Go-
yim ; that is, the nations who did not receive and
acknowledge the law : all such were called Goyim.
And in case of the conversion of any to Judaism,
they were then called Proselytes of the Gate.
GERA. A Benjamite, (2 Sam. xvi. 5.) from Gera, pil-
grimage.
x 2
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GERGESENES. A place rendered memorable by
our Lord's having visited it, and working a miracle
there upon a poor creature under possession of an
evil spirit. (See Matt. viii. 28.) It is more than pro-
bable, that this was the same nation as is called in
the Old Testament Girgashites ; one of the cities
of Canaan beyond the sea of Tiberias.
GERIZIM. This in the mount from whence the Lord
commanded Joshua to bless the people ; while
mount Ebal was the mount appointed for the pro-
clamation of the curses. (See Deut. xxvii. through-
out ; Josh. viii. 30. to the end.) Both those moun-
tains were near Shechem in Ephraim, a province of
Samaria. It should seem, that Gerizim was very
near to Shechem ; for Jotham, the son of Gideon,
addressed the people of that city from it. (See Judg.
ix 7.) The Samaritans had a high veneration for
this mountain ; witness the words of the adulteress
at Jacob's well to Christ. " Our fathers (said she)
worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say, that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
(John iv. 20.)
GETHSEMANE. This name derives its origin from
Ge, or Ghie, a valley ; and Shemin, oil. It ad-
joined the foul book of Kedron, into which all the
filth and uncleanness of the temple emptied itself.
Here it was also, into this black brook, that the
accursed things which the king of Israel destroyed
were cast. (See 2 Rings xxiii. 12.) A striking type
of the defilement and guilt emptied upon the per-
son of Christ, as the Representative and Surety of
his people, when passing over this brook Kedron,
to enter the garden of Gethsemane, when the things
typified were all to be fulfilled. Gethsemane was
itself a village, at the foot of the mount of Olives ;
and the garden Jesus oft times resorted lo, saw
part of this village. Gethsemane will alwavs be me-
309
morable, and always sacred, to the mind of the true
lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is impossible to
have the very idea of this hallowed spot cross the
recollection, without awakening- the tenderest
emotions. The Jews, unconscious of the cause,
called it Gehennon, the valley of hell. It is the
same word as Tophet. Here the sorrows of hell
compassed the Redeemer. And as in a garden it
was, that the powers of hell ruined our nature in the
corruption of our first parents ; so in a garden Jesus
conquered hell. But not so, as without blood.
Witness his soul-agony, and those great drops of
blood which fell from his sacred body. I would
desire grace, that by faith I might often visit Ge-
thsemane ; and while traversing the hallowed
ground, call to mind, that here it was Jesus entered
upon that soul-conflict with the powers of darkness,
which, when finished, completed the salvation of his
people. Hail, sacred Gethsemane ! (See Golgotha.
— Cedron.)
GIANT and GIANTS. The Scripture speaks of
such characters in the old world, Gen. vi. 4. And
in the days of the church going though the wilder-
ness, the king of Bashan, which opposed Israel, is
described as having a bedstead of iron of nine cubits
long, and four wide ; so that the length was fifteen
feet and four inches. And yet of later times, even
in our own days, Mr. O'Brien, the Irish giant so
called, was said to have been nine feet high. (See
2 Sam. xxi. 16. to the end.) The term for giant in
Hebrew is very singular ; it is Nophel : meaning,
a monster.
GIBEON, GIBEONITES. Gibeon was the chief
city ; so called from Gabah, an hill. The Gibeon-
ites form a very interesting subject in the Scrip,
ture history, and lead to an enquiry not less inter-
esting. They were descendants, it is probable,
310
from the Hivites ; that is, of the nations of Canaan
whom the Lord would drive out before Israel.
And yet we find the fear of God was upon them,
so as to act wisely to get interest with Israel.
(See their history, Josh. ix. 3. throughout.) And
we find in their farther history, (2 Sam. xxi.
1 — 6.) that the Lord took part with them when
Saul would have destroyed them, and even sent a
judgment upon Israel on their account. Were
the Gibeonites in those instances a type of the
salvation of the Gentile church, brought in by
sovereign grace into the privileges of Christ
Jesus ? Was this nation set apart in those early
ages of the church, by way of shewing Christ's
interest in his people, in being " a light to lighten
the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people
Israel?" I do not decide upon the subject; I
only ask the interesting question. (See Isa. xlix. 6.)
GIDEON. See Jerubbaal.
GIFT. I should not have noticed this word, but
with a view to speak of God's highest and best
gift. The sweetest feature in the gospel is, that
Christ, the great Author of it, is a gift of God ;
yea, the greatest and most important of all gifts,
and including every other. For where Jesus is,
there all blessings abound. Where he is not, it
matters not what else there is. Hence Paul ex-
claims, "Now thanks be unto God for his unspeak-
able gift ! " (2 Cor. ix. 15.)
GILBOA. See mount Gilboa.
GILEAD. There were several mountains of this
name lying eastward of Jordan. The term itself
is evidently taken from the word Gal, an heap ;
and Houd, testimony. The balm of Gilead is
used in Scripture as typical of Christ. Hence
the prophet exclaims, " Is there no balm in Gilead,
no physician there ? " Yes ! both were there.
Jesus's blood is a never-failing balm ; and he him-
self a physician which never failed of a cure.
" Why then is not the health of the daughter of
my people recovered ? * The answer is direct.
If this balm be never used, and this physician
never known or regarded, how shall the blessings
of either be experienced ? (Jer. viii. 22.)
I must not dismiss this article of Gilead without
first taking notice of a beautiful similitude of our
Lord's in Scripture, when comparing his church
to this mount, on account of its loveliness. " Be-
hold, (saith Jesus,) thou art fair, my love, thou art
fair ; thou hast dove's eyes within thy locks ; thy
hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount
Gilead." (Song iv. 1.) Perhaps the fairness so
often repeated by the Lord concerning the spouse,
is to shew how lovely she is in his eyes, from " the
comeliness he hath put upon her," and the high
value he hath for her. And the quickness of sight
in the dove, shews how much knowledge Jesus
imparts by his regenerating grace. The hair, it
should seem, is commended for its beauty by
the Lord, because of its nearness to the head,
and immediately having its root there. So
the saints of God are all beautiful in their order,
from being united to, and deriving all their life and
nourishment from, Jesus their glorious Head. And
as the flocks on mount Gilead, high and lifted up,
live securely, feed luxuriously, and are lovely in
their numbers and good order; so the fold of Christ
have their Gilead, that glorious mountain which
was once "a stone cut out without hands," but now
filling the earth, where they live and dwell securely.
Jesus himself is their food and their pasture,
" their munition of rocks, where their bread is given
and their water sure ; where they lie down in
safety, and none shall make them afraid." (ha.
xxxiii. 16.)
312
GIRDLE. There are several sorts of girdles spoken
of in Scripture. The Jews, in general, wore
girdles. Soldiers wore belts for their swords ;
(Neh. iv. 18.) and the priests had their girdles
also. (Exod. xx 4—8.) The holy Scriptures, by
a beautiful allusion to this strengthener of a man's
loins by the girdle, conveys to the church a most
lively and striking idea of God's strengthening
himself in his faithfulness to his people. " Righte-
ousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith-
fulness the girdle of his reins." (Isa. xi. 5.) The
meaning is, that as the labourer goeth forth in the
morning of the day to his labour, and strengthens
himself for the work by bracing up his loins with
his girdle ; so the Lord, speaking after the manner
of men, takes his righteousness for the girdle of
his administration, which cleaves to him as the
girdle to the loins of a man ; and his faithfulness
becomes the bandage of his word and truth to all
his covenant promises, as the rectitude of his reins.
And to carry on the figure — As the Lord is thus clad
with both, and they surround him like a girdle, so
his people are called upon to take hold of both, or
either, as occasion requires, whether before or
behind, and haug upon the gracious assurances of
a gracious faithful covenantGod in Christ. "Where-
fore (saith one of the apostles,) gird up the loins of
your mind ; be sober, and hope to the end ; for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. i. 13.)
OIT1TTH. This word is found in Scripture only at
the head, or title page, of several Psalms ; namely,
the eighth, eighty-first and eighty-fourth. Various
have been the opinions of the learned concerning
it, and for the most part different. Some contend,
that it means the wine-presses. Others will insist*
that it refers to some musical instruments used in
313
the temple-service. Some derive it from the word
Gath ; and, therefore, conclude it refers to that city.
And another class suppose it means Goliah, the Git-
tite. But be it what it may, certain it is, that the
knowledge of it in the present hour cannot be very
important, as God the Holy Ghost hath not thought
it essential to be known by the church. The
Psalms which bear this name in the title, are not less
blessed for our ignorance on this point; though if
it be, as it is possible it may have, a reference to
the Lord Jesus Christ, it would be gratifying to
know it. See Musician.
GLORIFY. We meet with this word very often in
Scripture, and we cannot be too particular in our
proper apprehension of its meaning. It is not very
difficult to understand how Jehovah is glorified
actively, when we give to him the glory that is due
to his holy name. God is said to be glorified,
when we honour him in his word, his attributes,
his perfections, and in all his dispensations, both in
nature, providence and grace. " Whoso offereth
me praise, saith Jehovah, he glorifieth me." (Ps.
li. 23.) We may be said to glorify God, when we
give him the credit due to God in believing him,
and especially in that record he hath given of his
dear Son. In this view of giving glory to God
is included all that self-abasement becoming poor
lost creatures, and ascribing the whole of redemp-
tion to sovereingn, free, and unmerited grace. In
short, in every way, and by every means, we may be
said to glorify Jehovah, when Christ, as the Christ of
God, is exalted as the only Saviour of a lost
world ; and the soul lies low at the footstool of
the throne of grace, ascribing "salvation only to
God and the Lamb." This is to glorify God actively.
But then it should be carefully remembered at
the same time, and never lost sight of, that all this,
and ten thousand times more, in giving glory to
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Jehovah, doth not in fact add an atom to his
glory. God is all-glorious in himself, whether his
creatures praise him, or do not. Resting in his
own eternal glory and all-sufficiency, nothing can
add to, or take from that glory. Sooner might
light be added to the sun by a faint taper of the
night, or sound to the thunder by the human voice,
than that Jehovah can receive additional glory
from any act, or from all the acts of his creatures,
put them all together in one. No ! the giving glory
to God is spoken of in accommodation to human
apprehension, and after the manner of men, to inti-
mate the suitable and becoming frame in man towards
God, and his sense of divine goodness.
But beside this glorifying God actively, there is
another method by which the Lord is said to be glo-
rified by his creatures passively ; namely, when un-
der suited impressions of his goodness the soul lies
passive, and comes to receive, and not to give ; and
from the Lord's grace thereby to minister to the
Lord's glory. And this is as blessed a way as the
former, and in which the Lord is truly glorified.
When God in Christ gives out of his fulness mercy,
pardon, grace, yea, imparts of himself the suited
supply to the wants of the millions of his people, this
is to his glory. He doth, indeed, get himself a glo-
rious name, and is glorified in all the gracious acts
by which his love and rich mercy is thus made
known. And if poor needy creatures had but such
views of the clemency of heaven, they would see
what encouragement it gives to faith, to be always
looking up to God's free bounty in Christ, to receive
from his fulness, and grace for grace. When a
poor believing soul can say, it is the glory and per.
fection of a God in Christ to be laying out upon
his redeemed of his infinite and inexhaustible ful-
ness ; and Christ in God is as much glorified by
my poor heart, when passively receiving from his
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grace bestowed upon me, as when I actively praise
him with joyful lips, when by his Holy Spirit he
enables me to bring- my poor boon of love and
thankfulness. This is to glorify God.
The reader will be pleased to observe, that in
all I have here noticed of glorifying Jehovah, I have
hitherto confined the subject to that part of the
divine glory given to him by his church and people,
under those two branches of it, actively and passively.
But a yet far higher view of glorifying the Lord re-
mains to be considered. The transcendent glory of
Jehovah is in the person of Christ, as God-man
Mediator. Here the whole glory of Jehovah, Fa-
ther, Son and Holy Ghost, centres. In Christ that
glory shines out in one full constellation. The Holy
Ghost, by the apostle, describes it in a short verse,
when speaking of Christ's person. " In him dwell-
eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. ii. 9.)
But what angels or men can describe this? And
in Christ's ministry, offices, character, work, and re-
lations in the accomplishment, who shall undertake
to set forth the glory of the Father in the Son, and
the glory of the Son by the Father, through the
efficient operation of God the Holy Ghost?
I will only add, that it forms a part of that glory
which all the persons of the Godhead are concerned
in, and will be loved, and praised, and adored for,
to all eternity by the church, when the church is
glorified and made everlastingly happy, from her
union with her glorious Head Christ Jesus, and
brought home through a life of grace here, to a life
of unspeakable nearness, felicity, and glory in
Christ Jesus hereafter, and to rest in the uninter-
rupted enjoyment of it for evermore. This also is
to the divine glory.
GLORY. This word in the abstract, properly speak-
ing belongs only to God ; for there can be glory in
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no other. Hence the prophet speaks to the church,
"Thy God thy glory." (Isa. lx. 19.) So that Jehovah,
in his threefold character of person, is truly and
strictly glory. Hence, when the Lord is speaking of
the great works of creation,in creating the heavens
and stretching them out, and spreading forth
the earth ; and also of the wonders of redemp-
tion by his Son; he confirms the oneness in nature,
work, and design of Christ, and the adoration due
to him as one with himself; and saith, "1 am the
Lord, that is my name, and my glory w ill I not
give to another, neither my praise to graven images."
(Isa. xlii. 5 — 8.) Where by the way, it may be
observed, here is the highest confirmation of the
Godhead of Christ. For in the same moment
that Jehovah declares his jealousy of his name
and glory, and that he will not give his glory to
another, neither his praise to graven images, he com-
mands both pra'se and glory to be given to his dear
Son, whom he gives as a covenant to the people, that
he may have all the praise and glory of redemption.
A plain proof that in Jehovah's esteem Christ is one
with the Father, " over all, God blessed for ever."
Amen. (Rom. ix. 5.) The glory of Jehovah, though,
no doubt, existing personally in the essence of the
Godhead, can only be known by his creatures in the
manifestation of it. "He dwells in that light, or
glory, which no man can approach unto." So that
all we can know or conceive of his glory, must re-
sult from such manifestations as he hath been plea-
sed to make of himself in his works. Thus when
Moses desired, that the Lord would shew him his
glory, the Lord said, K I will make all my good-
ness pass before thee ; and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord." (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19.) His name,
which is his person, therefore is, in the abstract,
glory; and the manifestation of it is in his ways
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and works. Hence the church is said to be his
glory, inasmuch as the Lord is glorified in her sal-
vation. For as the glorious Head of his body the
church in his mediatorial character, "is the brightness
of his Father's glory, and the express image of his
person ;" so the brethren, the messengers of the
churches, are said to be the glory of Christ, 2 Cor.
viii. 23. And the Lord promiseth to be to the
church, not only "a wall of fire to defend round
about, but the glory in the midst." (Zech. ii. 5.)
Names are sometimes given by the vanity of
men to creatures concerning glory, but the holy
Scriptures express their total disapprobation of it.
Thus the Lord, speaking of the pride of the king
of Assyria, (Isa. viii. 7.) declares, that all his glory
shall come to nought. And the Lord Jesus speak-
ing of Solomon's glory, describes it as nothing
compared to the humblest lilies of the field. (Matt,
vi. 28. 29.) And hence that gracious precept of the
Lord by the prophet : " Thus saith the Lord, Let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich man
glory in his riches ; but let him that glorieth, glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that
I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth ; for in
these things I delight, saith the Lord." (Jer ix.
23, 24.)
1 cannot forbear requesting the reader's attention,
under this article, to a sweet and interesting feature
of Christ, as the Glory-man Christ Jesus. I say, as
the Glory-man ; for I would beg to be understood,
that this name is peculiarly belonging to our Jesus,
and to him only. His people in him, and through
him, will hereafter be brought to glory, and will
be, we are told, in point of glory as the angels. (Matt,
xxii. 30.) But though glorious from a derived glory
318
from Christ, yet not glory, in the abstract, in them-
selves. This is peculiarly and personally his ; so
that Jesus is the Glory-man, as the God-man Me-
diator. If the reader would wish to see the Scrip-
ture authority for this name, he will find it John
xvii. 5. where the glory Jesus then speaks of as
Mediator, was unquestionably the glory in which he
stood up at the call of God when "the Lord possessed
him in the beginning of his ways before his works of
old, and when his delights were with the sons of
men." (See Prov. viii. 22—31.)
I would only beg- to add one thought more upon
this subject, and to observe to the true believer in
Jesus the blessedness the heart of that man feels,
who, to such views of the divine glory, can set to
his seal the truth of it in his own personal experi-
ence, when with the apostle he can say, " God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ." (2 Cor. iv. 6.)
GLORIOUS. This is a term we meet with in Scrip-
ture, taken from the former, and is applied to the
Lord as solely his. But the church, considered from
her union with Christ as part of himself, is also
spoken of as glorious in him. Moses's song* cele-
brates the Lord's glory in relation to his perfections.
"Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious: who is
like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? who is like
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders." (Exod. xv. 6. 11.) So the church, in con-
sequence of her union with Christ, is said to be all-
glorious within. (Ps. xlv. 13.) And the great object
of redemption is said to be, that Jesus might pre-
sent to himself a glorious church. (Ephes. v. 27.) But
it should ever be remembered, that all the glory of
the church is with an eye to Christ. If she be with-
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out spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing-, and made
comely, it is only " from the comeliness Jesus hath
put upon her." (Ezek. xvi. 14.)
GOAT. This animal was one of the clean beasts,
and used in the Jewish church both for food and
sacrifice. (Lev. xvi. 5.) and the veil of the taber-
nacle was made of the hair of the goat. (Exod.
xxv. 4.) But in the after ages of the church, the
goat became figurative of the ungodly. And, per-
haps, this arose from the calves and devils (literally
goats), which Jeroboam set up for idol worship.
(See 2 Cor. xi 14, 15.) Hence the Lord is re-
presented by the prophet, as punishing the goats;
that is, the worshippers of those dunghill idols.
(Zech. x. 3.) Hence also another prophet ex-
claims, " Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to
meet thee at thy coming ; it stirreth up the dead
for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth ; "
The margin of the Bible hath it, even all the great
goats of the earth ; meaning the princes and great
men. (Isa. xiv. 9.) Hence our blessed Lord, in
describing the solemn events of the last day, des-
cribes the wicked and ungodly as goats on his left
hand, destined for destruction. (Matt. xxv. 33.)
I have been more particular on this subject, in
order to explain wherefore it is, that as the goat
was by the Lord's own appointment of the clean
beasts both for food and sacrifice, that the Lord
Jesus and his servant should make the goat a figure,
or emblem, of the reprobate, and as distinguished
from the sheep of his fold. And this the account of
the goat set up as an idol by Jeroboam, and sa-
crificed to by the people in direct opposition to the
God of Israel, very fully explains.
While I am upon this subject of the goat, it
may not be unacceptable to the pious reader, to
say a few words on the very striking ceremony ap-
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pointed by the Lord of the scape goat on the great
day of atonement. I need not describe the cere-
mony itself, for the reader will find a full account
thereof, Lev. xvi. There is somewhat most won-
derfully interesting when this service of the scape
goat is considered with an eye to Christ. The high
priest laying both his hands on the head of the
beast, and making a confession over him of all the
iniquities of the children of Israel, with all their
transgressions in all their sins, as if transferring
both the sin and guilt from themselves to another ;
certainly this had no meaning but in reference to
the Lord Jesus Christ ; and certainly, beheld in al-
lusion to him, the whole service becomes plain
and obvious. The Suretyship of Christ is hereby most
blessedly shadowed forth; and both the law of God
and the justice of God in that Suretyship evidently
satisfied. Indeed, the type falls short of the thing
itself in one point ; for the scape goat was altogether
passive in the act, but Christ, in his voluntary sur-
z-ender of himself, manifested a willing offering. On
the part of God the Father, the type, and the thing
signified by the type, became one and the same.
For though it is out of any creature's power, to
make a transfer of sin to another, yet it is not be-
yond the sovereignty and prerogative of God. And
when the Lord Jesus, at the call of God, stood
up from everlasting as the covenant Head of
his people, his voluntary offering gave efficacy
to the whole. In this he undertook to answer for
all their sins, and to do away the whole of their
guilt and pollution by the sacrifice of himself.
Hence Jehovah is represented by the prophet,
as " laying upon him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. liii.
6.) A.nd Jesus is no less represented as saying,
" Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." (Ps.xl. 7, 8.)
I would just ask the reader, whether such a
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view doth not bring- comfort to the soul, in thus
beholding- the transfer of sin, with all its defilement,
taken from our poor nature, and put upon the per-
son of Christ. How blessed must it have been in
God the Holy Ghost, to have had the representa-
tion made of it in an age so distant from the thing
itself, as if to testify the Lord's approbation of it in
the people's safety. Though the Scriptures are
silent upon it, yet the history of the scape goat
among the Jews, has handed down by tradition
the account, which is not uninteresting. Itissaid, that
when the two goats were led into the inner court
of the temple and presented to the high priest,
according to the Lord's appointment of casting lots,
(Lev. xvi. 8.) the scape goat, or as the margin of
the Bible expresseth it, the Azazel, had then a fillet,
or a narrow piece of scarlet, fastened to its head,
which soon became white. And hence the prophet
is supposed to allude when saying, " though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa.
i. 18.) The scape goat was then sent away, by
the hand of some fit man, or as the margin of the
Bible hath it, by a man of opportunity, into the
wilderness. Some of the Jews say, that the edge
of the wilderness had a precipice where the Azazel
fell over, and was dashed to pieces. But the " wil-
derness which no man went through, and none
inhabited," carried with it the same idea, that " the
iniquity of Israel when sought for, there should be
none ; and the sins of Judah, and they should not
be found." (Jer. 1. 20.) When the Lord puts away
sin, in Scripture language it is said, "that he remem-
bers it no more." (Heb. viii. 12. with Jer. xxxi. 34.)
GOD. We enter with profound veneration and holy
awe upon any attempt to explain what is in itself
beyond the grasp of men or angles to apprehend.
VOL. VI. Y
322
When we pronounce the glorious name of God,
we desire to imply all that is great, gracious, and
glorious in that holy name ; and having said
this, we have said all that we can say. The Scrip-
tures have given several names, by way of ex-
pressing all that can be expressed of him ; that he
is the First and the Last, and the Author and Crea-
tor of all things. It is worthy observation, that the
Lord speaking of himself to Moses, (Exod. vi. 2, 3.)
saith, " I am Jehovah : And I appeared unto Abra-
ham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of
God Almighty (El Shaddai,) but by my name Je-
hovah was I not known to them." By which we are
not to imagine, that the Lord was not known to the
patriarchs as their Creator, and as self-existing ;
but the meaning is, that he had not so openly re-
vealed himself. They know him in his adorable
perfections, but not so clearly in his covenant rela-
tions. So that the name itself was not so different,
as the great things implied in the name. For
certain it is, that very early in the church men be-
gan to call upon the name of Jehovah, (Gen. iv.26.)
And Abram told the king of Sodom, that he had
lifted up his hand unto the Lord, the most High
God. Here we have both the names expressly
used by Abram, Gen. xiv. 22. But certain it is,
that never until this revelation by Moses, did the
church understand how the incommunicable name
of Jehovah became the security of fulfilling all the
promises.
And this seems to be more fully revealed from
the very manner in which the Lord communicated itto
Moses. I AM that I AM ; that is, I have a being
in myself, and, consequently, I give being to all
my promises. And it is worthy farther of remark,
that the very name Jehovah carries this with it ;
for it is an Hemantick noun, formed from Hayah, he
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was ; as expressing- liis eternity. The Jews had so
high a veneration for this sacred name, that they
never used it but upon memorable occasions. We
are told by Eusebius, that in his days the Jews
wrote the holy name in Samaritan characters, when
they had occasion to mention the name of the Lord,
lest that strangers, and not of the stock of Israel,
should profane it. And in modern times it is generally
observed by the seed of Abraham, when marking
the number fifteen (which in tne ordinary way of
doing it by letters would take the Yod (10,) and the
He (5,) forming the incommunicable name of Jah,)
they always take the Teth and the Vau, that is the
9 and the 6, instead of it, to make the number fifteen
by. A plain proof in what high veneration the
sacred name was held by them. It were devoutly
to be wished, that men calling themselves Christians
were always to give so lively an evidence of their
reverence to that u glorious and fearful name, THE
LORD THY GOD." (Deut. xxviii. 58.)
It is said in the history of the Jews, that after
their return from Babylon, they lost the true pro-
nunciation of this glorious name Jehovah. And
certain it is, that none know the real and correct
manner in which it should be pronounced. But
what a precious thought is it to the believer in
Jesus that "if any man love God, the same is known
by him." (1 Cor. viii. 3.) I only add, that in con-
firmation of the blessed doctrine of our holy faith,
it is our happiness to know, that this glorious
name is equally applied to each and to all the persons
of the Godhead. To God the Father, Eph. i. 3 ;
to God the Son, John i. 1; and to God the Holy
Ghost, Acts v. 3, 4. And to the whole Three glo-
rious persons in the unity of the divine essence,
1 John v. 7. (See Jehovah.)
GOG and MAGOG. Gog, whose name signifies
y 2
3-24
GO
roof, or covering, it should seem, was some
prince ; and Magog not a person, but the king-
dom. So that it is Gog, and prince of Magog.
Some have thought, that these names are general
names for the enemies of the church, because
they are spoken of both in Ezekiel's prophecy, and
the book of the Revelation by St. John. (Ezek.
xxxviii. and Rev. xx.) It will well reward the
reader to turn to the prophecy of Ezekiel, at the
thirty-eighth chapter, in confirmation of this latter
opinion.
The land of unwalled villages, and the people
that dwell in the midst of the land, or as the
margin of the Bible hath it, the navel of the land,
can mean no other than Jerusalem, supposed to be
the centre of the earth ; and, therefore, the sea that
bounds the borders in these parts very properly
called the Mediterranean. And let the reader
judge for himself how suitable it was, and proper,
that when the Lord Jesus came on earth to do away
the sin and guilt of all nations, the solemn trans-
action of his " one all-sufficient sacrifice and obe-
dience unto death" should be set forth in the centre
of the earth, that like the sun in the midway of the
heavens which illumines both east and west ; so
Christ, the sun of righteousness, might extend the
efficacy of his light, and life, and warmth in every
direction to his people ; and his blood, as from the
high altar of his own divine nature, flowing down,
might wash away, from the morning of creation to
the end of time, the whole of human trans-
gression.
GOLD. I should not have paused over this word,
had I not recollected in the moment of reading it,
that the Holy Ghost is graciously pleased to make
use of it as a figure to represent the Lord Jesus
by, in several parts of the divine word ; and also
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the church is spoken of, from her union with her
Lord, by the same similitude. " His head (said
the church, when commending' the beauties of her
Lord,) is as the most fine gold." (Song- v. 11.) "His
hands are as gold rings set with the beryl." (Song
v. 14.) And the Lord Jesus, speaking of his church,
made comely in his comeliness, saith, " Thy cheeks
are comely with rows of jewels ; thy neck with
chains of gold. We will make thee borders- of
gold, with studs of silver." (Song i. 10, 11.) As
gold is the richest and most valued of all metal?,
so by this figure is meant to say, that the Headship
of Christ is every thing that is rich, valuable
and glorious to his body the church. Yea, as the
Scripture saith, when referring to the Lord Jesus
as God-man Mediator, " the head of Christ is God."
(1 Cor. xi. 3.) It is probable, that an eye to God
the Father, under this similitude, might also be
meant. For though in respect to the divine nature,
Christ is "one with the Father, over all, God blessed
for ever." (Rom. ix. 5.) Yet in respect to his human
nature, the Father may truly be said to be the
head of Christ ; for he saith himself, " A body hast
thou given me, or prepared me." (Ps. xl. 6. with
Heb. x. 5.)
But it is very blessed to eye the Lord Jesus
under this figure. As the Head of his body the
.church, he may well be compared to the most fine
gold ; for the Psalmist saith, in allusion to his
royal dignity and power, Jehovah put " a crown
of pure gold upon his head, when he made him
most blessed for ever." (Ps. xxi. 1 — 7.) And as
all this, and infinitely more to the same effect, is
spoken of Christ in allusion to his mediatorial
character, the Head of his church and people,
so this endears Jesus the more, inasmuch as all
his people are so highly interested in all that be-
longs to him. Gold is a proper figure to re-
326 G O
present the glories of his person, the excellency
of his kingdom, the purity and spiritual nature
of it, the durableness of it and the splendour and
everlasting glory of it; for all his people are made
kings and priests, by virtue of his riches and glory
to God and the Father. (Rev. i. 6.) And as Christ's
head is compared on all these, and the like ac-
counts to gold : so his hands to rings of gold set
with beryl, from the liberal manner in which he be-
stows gifts and graces to his redeemed. " In his
right hand, saith Solomon, is length of days,
and in his left hand riches and honour." (Prov. iii.
16.) The beryl was one of the precious stones in the
breastplate of the High Priest. (Exod. xxviii. 20.)
And John tells the church, that the beryl was
among the foundation-stones of the new Jerusalem.
(Rev. xxi. 20.) What those precious stones im-
plied cannot need inquiry, since elsewhere we are
told, that Christ is the foundation-stone Jehovah
hath laid in Zion; and the church, both in heaven
and earth, rests wholly upon him, the chief corner
stone, " in whom all the building fitly framed toge-
ther, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
(Ephes. ii. 20,21.)
It is blessed to behold also the church spoken of
under the same similitude, from her union and
oneness with her Lord. The neck and cheeks of the
church, the parts connected with the head, made
comely with jewels and chains of gold, may be sup-
posed to mean those graces, with which her Lord
hath adorned her, " more to be desired than gold,
yea, than much fine gold." And when a soul is blessed
in the everlasting covenant with all spiritual bless-
ings in Christ Jesus, there is a loveliness indeed,
which is as an " ornament of grace unto the head,
and as chains about the neck." (Prov. i. 9.) And
what tends to endear the whole is, that all the per-
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soils of the Godhead concur in this vast work of
adorning- the church with blessings, more valuable
than the "golden wedge ofOphir." It is said, " We
will make thee borders of gold, with studs of silver ;"
meaning, surely, the joint work and grace of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose joint names all true
believers in Christ are baptized, and blessed upon
earth, and everlastingly made happy and glorious
in heaven. (Matt, xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Rev.
vii. 9—12.) 0
GOLD UN CANDLESTICKS. The view which the
beloved apostle had of the Lord Jesus as related to
the church, (Rev. i. 10. to the end,) makes it pro-
per to notice something of what seems to have been
highly emblematical in our Lord's appearing in the
midst of the golden candlesticks. I detain the
reader, therefore, in this place, to take a short notice
of it. Of the Jewish church we read of one candle-
stick of gold, with six branches, in the tabernacle,
(Exod. xxv. 31, 32.) But here we read of seven
candlesticks, and the Lord Jesus in the midst. We
can easily conceive concerning the one, that it was
intended to prefigure the church, which until Christ
came and gave light to it, like a candlestick which
is a receiver only, and hath no light in itself, is as
nothing. And when in the gospel church we be-
hold seven candlesticks, and the Lord Jesus in the
midst, we here discover, that from the coming- of
Christ, when having finished redemption-work he
returned to glory, he sent down the Holy Ghost in
his seven-fold gifts to illumine the whole church of
God with the revelation of his grace : so that the
gracious office of the Holy Ghost in his unceasing-
agency is very blessedly set forth. And I do not
think, that the Lord Jesus, in his high priestly office,
could have been more strongly represented than by
appearing- thus in the midst of the candlesticks, his
328
churches. For as it was the office of the Jewish
high priest to trim the wicks and supply the oil,, so
Jesus, our great High Priest, supplies the whole
by his blessed Spirit both to his ministers and
people.
GOLGOTHA — Or perhaps better read Gulgultha, a
skull. This was the memorable spot where the Lord
Jesus was crucified : a mountain north-west of Je-
rusalem. The Romans called it Calvarea, which we
translate Calvary. And the tradition in the eastern
world concerning it was, that this name was given
to it from Adam having been buried there. So that
the men of Syria called it Cranium, the skull. But
be this as it may, here it was the Lord of life and
glory offered up that holy sacred oblation of him-
self, for the sin and transgression of his redeemed,
by which he obtained eternal redemption for all
them that are sanctified. Sweet and solemn the me-
ditation, when from Getlisemane to Golgotha the
believer by faith traverses the sacred ground. If
Moses with such earnestness desired to see the
goodly mountain, and Lebanon, as he tells us he
did, (Deut. iii. 24. 25.) because, that there he knew
He whose " good will he had begun to enjoy at the
bush," would go through the whole of redemption-
work, and finish it ; what may be supposed the fa-
voured contemplations of the faithful now at Geth-
semane and Golgotha, where they know Jesus
did, indeed, according to the most sure prophecies
concerning him, complete the salvation of his peo-
ple ! Here would my soul delight to wander, and
often review the sacred ground. From hence it
was, that clear and distinct views were first taken
of the city of the living God. Golgotha's mount
opened the perspective of the New Jerusalem, and
gave to the eye of faith not only clear and distinct
prospects of the certainty of the place, but also as
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clear and distinct assurances of the believer's right
and interest by Jesus to the possession of it. And
from that period to the present hour, and so on to
the end of time, these views have never since been
darkened. The song- of faith is still the same, and
the triumphs in the cross furnish out the same soul-
reviving- notes. " Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible, and unde-
nted, and that fadeth not away." (1 Pet. i. 3, 4.) See
Gethsemane.
GOLIATH. The gaint of Gah, one of the sons of
Amak. (See Josh. xi. 22.) His name signifies an heap,
from Galah. The size of this man was enormous.
" Six cubits and a span." So that supposing what
is the common allowed measure of the cubit to
have been, " one and twenty inches," and that a span
was half a cubit, this man was eleven feet and
four inches high. The armour he wore bore a
correspondence to the greatness of his stature.
His coat is said to have weighed five thousand
shekels. A shekel was half an ounce. And if all
the other parts of his armour carried a proportion
to this, in his "helmet of brass, and the greaves of
brass, and the target, and his spear's head, six
hundered shekels of iron/' what an astonishing
man must he have been in such an astonishing pon-
derous armour, in carrying that for exercise and
slaughter which few strong men could lift from the
ground ! (See 1 Sam. xvii. throughout.) But how
soon David the stripling conquered him, when
armed and lead on to victory by the Lord. But in
reading the history of this battle we stop short of
the chief glory of it, if we do not eye the Lord
Jesus Christ, the almighty David of his Israel, con-
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quering hell, death, and the grave, in all his
Goliahs which come forth to defy the army of the
living God. Oh! how blessed it is in all to be-
hold Christ going forth " for the salvation of his
people ! "
GOMER. The purchased wife of the prophet
Hosea. She is said to have been the daughter of
Diblaitn — whether Father or mother — for it might
be either. Her name signifies to finish or com-
plete. (See Hos. i. 2, 3. and Hos. iii. 1—3.) The
history as it is given to us in the Bible, both of the
prophet and this adulteress, appears very singular
and surprising. But some light is thrown upon
it from the account given us by writers concern-
ing the customs of the east. Contracts for marriages,
it is said, were never formed without giving with
the woman a certain measure of corn, as well as
money, for a marriage portion. The corn intimated
the hope of fruitfulness in children. But it should
seem in the case of Hosea, that the portion here
was not given by the parents, but by the prophet ;
and that this was of the Lord. The Lord said unto
Hosea, " Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms."
And hence the prophet saith, " So I bought her to
me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of
barley, and an half homer of barley." (Hos. iii. 2.)
The spiritual sense of it is more plain than the
literal. For the marrying an adulteress, and by the
Lord's command, and the union of a prophet of
the Lord with such a character, seems a measure
not easily explained. But as typical of the Lord's
being married to his adulteress Israel, the subject
is not only clear, but highly instructive. We see
in it God's grace amidst all our undeservings ;
and that " where sin hath abounded grace doth
much more abound." To what a degree of spiritual
adultery and fornication was our nature gone, when
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Christ betrothed that nature to himself! Here
surely the prophet typified Christ, when he said,
"Go yet, love a woman (beloved of her friend, yet an
adulteress) according to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel." (Hos. Hi- 1.)
GOMORRHA. The city of the plain destroyed by
fire. (Gen. xix. 24.) The name seems suited to
the place. Om, or Am, a people ; Morah, or
Marah, of bitterness. We have the awful relation
of the event of Sodom and Gomorrha's overthrow
in the chapter before referred to. And certain it
is, that it was intended as a standing monument
in the church of divine judgments. Israel is re-
minded of it Deut. xxix. throughout. And in
allusion to the fire of Gomorrha, the apostle Jude
describes the sad ruin of sinners under the image
of suffering eternal fire. (Jude 7.) And Peter to
the same effect. (2 Pet. ii. 6.) And in the
Revelations the everlasting torments of the damned
are described by the same image, in reference to
Sodom and Gomorrha — " in a lake that burnetii
with fire and brimstone." (Rev. xxi. 8.)
Had there been ten righteous men in Sodom
and Gomorrha, the Lord's grace would have been
manifested in the salvation of the place. Blessed
be our God, there is one in the Gomorrha of our
world whose name is Wonderful, and for whose
sake it stands to the present hour, and who will
be the cause of his people's salvation to all eternity !
GOSHEN. Perhaps so called from Goshen, rain,
or the dew of heaven in blessings. For this place
being nearer to the Mediterranean sea than Upper
Egypt, had plentiful showers to make it fertile.
Here it was Jacob and his children dwelt, when
brought down into Egypt. (Gen. xlvii. 1 — 6.)
Perhaps there might have been even in those days, a
remote idea to the times of the gospel in the name
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of Goshen ; for even now in the present hour,
that is truly a land of Goshen where Christ is
truly known, and where heaven hath shed and is
shedding its blessed influences, in the showers of
his Holy Spirit ; while all the earth is as Egypt
in the dryness, where no rains are known, and
where the gospel of Christ is not.
GOSPEL— Or God's spell. This is a Saxon word,
meaning good tidings. The Greeks called the
gospel evangelical ; hence the writers of it are
called Evangelists. The word itself, as used in
modern language, means the proclamation of par-
don, mercy, and peace, in and through Jesus
Christ our Lord. And so infinitely important and
interesting is it in the eyes of all men that are
made partakers of its saving grace, that the very
feet of them that are commissioned to preach it
are said to be beautiful. " How beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth ! " (Isa. lii. 7.)
And, indeed, the gospel is, without exception,
the best news Jehovah ever proclaimed to man,
or man ever heard. Angels thought so, when at
the command of God they posted down from hea-
ven, at the birth of Christ, as if ambitious to be
the first preachers of it to a lost world, and in a
multitude of the heavenly host met together, to
proclaim the blessed tidings to the Jewish shep-
herds, saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will towards men." (Luke ii.
13, 14.)
GOURD. Jonah's gourd makes the thing itself
memorable, which without the circumstance refer-
ring to him, would have formed nothing more im-
portant in the church than any other plant. The
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Hebrews called it Kikajon. The wild gourd is of
another genus, and called Pekaah. It is said to
be so bitter, that it is called " the gall of the
earth." (2 Kings iv. 89.) Some have thought,
that Jonah's gourd is the same as the Palma
Christi. See Palm tree. I would only observe
under this article of Jonah's gourd, how beautiful
a lesson was the prophet taught (and, consequently,
we ought to learn from it,) had he been wise to
have improved it, how little to be valued are all
earthly comforts, which even a poor worm of the
earth may destroy. A night brings forth our
worldly enjoyments ; and a night is more than
enough to destroy them. Oh ! how blessed to
live upon an unchangeable God in Christ, "the same
yesterday, and to-day, and for ever ! "
GOZAN. The name of a river. (2 Kings xvii. 6.)
GRACE. This word hath a variety of meanings in
the word of God, as it relates to the divine power,
and as it relates to man. When we speak of
grace in relation to God, it hath a vast compre-
hension of meaning. The whole gospel is called
the grace of God. And the application of it, in
any individual instance of its saving power, is
called " the grace of God. By grace ye are sav-
ed (saith the apostle,) through faith ; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Eph. ii. 8.)
The grace of God is free, like the light, or the
dew of heaven. Grace acts from itself to itself ;
nothing of human power, or merit, disposing to
it, nor of unworthiness keeping from it. So that
every thing by Christ is grace ; and to suppose
any one pre-disposing act in the creature, or any
merit in the creature, would altogether alter and
destroy the very property of grace. (See Rom.
xi. 6.) What is meant by grace in man, means
altogether favour and affection. Thus Joseph
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found grace ; that is, favour in the sight of his
master. (Gen. xxxix. 4. So Abraham, Gen. xviii.
1 — 3. The case is similar in the case of Lydia,
Acts xvi. 15.)
GRAPES. The Scripture speak of two sorts of
grapes, the true, and the wild. And while the
former is both good for food and delight, the
other is poisonous and destructive. The biood of
the grape is spoken of by the dying patriarch Jacob,
(Gen. xlix. 11.) perhaps not without reference to the
sacramental ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Moses
beautifully contrasts the vineyards of the wicked
with the vineyards of the Lord of hosts. "Their vine
(saith he,) is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields
of Gomorrha ; their grapes are grapes of gall, their
clusters are bitter." (Deut. xxxii. 32.) Whereas
the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is compared to
the "rich clusters of Engedi." (Song i. 14.) We
are told by an ancient writer, that so luxurious
were the branches and clusters of grapes in the
eastern world, that there have been seen some of
ten and twelve pounds. Indeed, in our own coun-
try in hot houses, clusters of many pounds have
been gathered. I cannot, under this article, for-
bear remarking the kindness of that precept in
Israel concerning the vineyard, that when the
Israelites gathered in their vintage, the gleanings
should be for those that had no vineyard. (Lev.
xix. 9, 10.) And it should seem, that in the
gleaning season the vineyards were thrown open,
for the traveller passing by to have the benefit of
it. I leave the reader to make his own comment ;
but I cannot but think, that there was much of
gospel veiled under this precept. The gleaning
season in Christ's church is all the year. Thou-
sands going by have found gleaning seasons to
their souls daily ; and the invitation, indeed, is to
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the highways, and lanes, and hedges of the city,
to call in " the poor, and the maimed, and the halt,
and the blind." And even when these are come,
and their souls have been filled, u still there is
room." So infinitely full and so infinitely gracious
is the great Lord of the vineyard, that all appli-
cation ceases before that any diminishing is found
in him and his vineyard, to supply. (Luke xiv.
21, 22.) See Cluster.
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HABAKKUK. The prophet. His name is deriv-
ed from Chabak, signifying, one that embraceth.
Of his descent and family the Holy Ghost is silent.
His prophetical writings are truly scriptural, and
are contained in three chapters, which we have in
our Bibles. They carry evident marks with them
of divine inspiration. The apostle Paul makes a
quotation from the second chapter, and fourth
verse. (See Heb. x. 38.) The story related of
Habakkuk carrying a dinner to Daniel in the lions'
den, as it is stated in the fabulous tale of Bel and the
Dragon, is like the story itself, altogether a fic-
tion, and is as disgraceful as it is untrue. The
time of Habakkuk's ministry is, in itself, enough
to confute it ; for this prophet lived long before
the Babylonish captivity, as appears from his pre-
dicting that event. (See Habak. i. 6.) Some have
endeavoured to soften the story, by supposing the
dinner Habakkuk is said to have carried Daniel
was his writings, particularly that passage in them
where it is said, " The just shall live by his faith."
But this is rather giving countenance to a story
that ought to be refuted, and by no means admis-
sible. The very Jews themselves deny the tale.
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HABITATION. This word is of gracious import.
In reference to the sweet promises of God, as in-
dwelling' in his people, and they living by faith upon
the gracious truth, nothing can be more delightful.
" Lo, I come ; and I will dwell in the midst of thee,
saith the Lord." (Zech. ii. 10.) And in one of the
richest promises of the Bible, our blessed Lord
Jesus speaks to the same effect: "If a man love
me (saith Jesus,) he will keep my words ; and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him." (John. xiv. 23.) And
the apostle Paul following the gracious words of
his divine master, saith, that the whole spiritual
building the church, is for "an habitation of God
through the Spirit." (Ephes. ii. 22.)
HACHALIAH. The father of Nehemiah the Tir-
shatha. His name is compounded of Chakah and
Jah, signifying a waiter upon the Lord. (See Neh.
i. 1.)
HAGAR. Sarah's handmaid : she was an Egyptian.
Her name Hagar signifies a stranger. We have her
history at large, in the sixteenth and twenty-first
chapters of Genesis ; and a very interesting history
it is. But we never should have known the spiritual
import of it, had not God the Holy Ghost graci-
ously taught the church, by the ministry of his ser-
vant the apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians.
From thence we learn, that the whole of those
transactions respecting Sarah and Hagar was an
allegory, or figure, of the covenants ; the one of
bondage in nature, the other of freedom by grace.
Without this divine illustration the mind of man
never could have conceived such an idea, neither have
entered into a proper apprehension of the subject.
Indeed, from the tendency of every man's mind by-
nature, to take part with flesh and blood rather than
spiritual objects, we should have felt disposed to
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consider Hagar hardly dealt with, and Sarah unkind
and cruel. But taught by divine instruction, from
this beautiful allegory we learn the vast importance
of being found belonging to a covenant of grace,
and not with the bond-woman under the law of
works. As the subject is so very highly interesting,
I venture to persuade myself, that it will not be
tedious to the reader, neither, under grace, will it
be unprofitable to consider it yet a little more par-
ticularly.
The apostle was commissioned to tell the church,
that this allegory represented the two covenants.
Hagar and her son Ishmael, the law-covenant,
gendering to bondage ; Sarah and her son Tsaac,
the gospel-covenant, leading to freedom. And
agreeably to this statement of the apostle, all the
features of both correspond.
Ishmael, Hagar's son, was born in the ordinary
course of nature ; Isaac, Sarah's son, was born out
of it, and contrary to the general laws of nature.
Ishmael was the natural result of things ; Isaac the
child of promise. The one born without an eye to
the covenant; the other wholly on account of the
covenant. Hadlshmaelneverbeenborn, no interrup-
tion would have taken place in respect of the pro-
mised seed ; but had Isaac never been born, the
promise itself could not have been fulfilled; for so
the terms of the charter ran, "in Isaac shall thy
seed be called." (Gen. xxi. 12.) And though a
period of somewhat more than twenty years had
elapsed between the promise given to Abraham
and the fulfilment of it, yet the thing itself was as
sure and certain as the promise concerning the
coming of Christ himself. " To Abraham and his
seed was the promise made. He saith not unto
seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed,
which is Christ." (Gal. iii. 16.) And bow striking
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was the difference in the gift of these two sons to
Abraham! Ishmael was the product of lust; Isaac
a child of prayer. "Lord God, said Abraham,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless ? Look
now (said God,) towards heaven, and tell the stars,
if thou be able to number them. And he said unto
him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the
Lord ; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
(Gen. xv. 2 — G.) It may not be improper to add,
that as in the two covenants the one is in direct op-
position to the other, so in the allegory the same
Ls manifested. " He that was born after the flesh,
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit ; even
so it is now." The everlasting hatred of nature to
grace was then strikingly set forth, by the mocking
of the bond-woman's son. And as Ishmael, as well
as Isaac, was circumcised, the allegory hereby
manifested, (what hath not been so much noticed as
it deserves,) that the persecution of the true seed
doth not arise only from the world, but from those
who profess the same faith. A faith, like lshmael's,
of nature, but not, like Isaac's, of grace. But what
a blessed thing it is, when by a true saving grace
we are led to know our birthright, and as sweetly
to enjoy it. When we can say with the apostle,
"Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of
promise." And surely, the bond-woman and her
son cannot be heir with the son of the free-woman ;
for all of the Hagar, the mount Sinai covenant, are
in bondage. They are under the precept of a
broken law ; they are subject to the condemning
power of that law ; and they are exposed to the
penalty due to the breaches of that law. Oh ! the
blessedness of being for ever freed both from the
guilt and condemnation of it in Christ. Well
might the apostle comfort the church with that sweet
assurance, " so then, brethren, we are not children
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of the bond-woman, but of the free." (Gal. iv. 31.)
HAG A RENES . The descendants of Hagar. They
dwelt chiefly in Arabia.
HAGGAI. The prophet, who lived after the Baby-
lonish captivity, and at the time of building the
second temple. His name signifies a feast of the
Lord, from Chagag, a feast ; and Jah, the Lord.
His prophecy is but short, yet most blessed in
pointing to Christ.
HAGIOGRAPHY. This word is not used in the
Bible, but, nevertheless, as it hath been used by
the Jews in a way of distinction concerning certain
parts of the word of God in the Old Testament
Scripture, it may not be improper to notice it in a
work of this kind. The word Hagiography, which
means holy writings, is generally applied by the
Jews to all the books of the Old Testament, ex-
cepting the Law and the Prophets. For though,
as Maimonides saith, it is the general consent of
their nation, that several of the sacred writings,
such as Daniel, and the Book of the Psalms, were
written by the influence of the Holy Spirit, yet they
say, not by prophecy ; thus making a distinction
between the works of the Spirit, than which nothing
can be more absurd. The reason of denying that
those writings were prophetical is easily seen, be-
cause they are so pointed to the person of the Lord
Jesus, that when fulfilled in him, as they evidently
were, and in such a way as they never could be ful-
filled in any other, must have left the Jews without
the least excuse, if they confessed them to have
been prophetical. And yet what a poor and flimsy
covering they find in denying the Spirit of pro-
phecy to be in them, and yet allowing them, to have
been written by the influence of the Spirit. The
prophecy of Daniel in particular, was so exact in
pointing to the time of the Messiah's coming and
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the object of his sufferings, that one of the Rabbins
who lived about fifty years before the coming of
Christ, asserted, that the time of the Messiah, as
signified by Daniel, could not be deferred longer
than those fifty years. Maiuio:iides himself owns,
that Daniel, and the other writers of the Hagiog-
raphy, may be called prophets. Aben Ezra saith
much to the same amount. And Josephus doth not
scruple to say that Daniel was one of the greatest
prophets. But enough hath been said on this sub-
ject. The reader will, I hope, clearly understand
what is meant by Hagiography in the Scripture,
and wherefore the Jews so distinguished them from
the five books of Moses and the prophets.
HALLELUJAH. See Allelujah.
HAM. The Son of Noah, brother to Shem and Ja-
pheth. Of these three sons of Noah was the whole
earth overspread ; for it doth not appear, that Noah
had any other children. (Gen. ix. 18, 19.) The
prophecy of Noah concerning his three sons is very
remarkable, and was literally fulfilled. Ham is
called Canaan in the prediction, and declared to be
a servant of servants. When Joshua conquered
Canaan this was literally accomplished. (Josh. ix.
23.) The blessing of Shem is striking, and the
manner of it. God is blessed on Shear's account,
and is called the Lord God of Shem. And as
Christ after the flesh sprang from Shem, it is truly
interesting to behold this preacher of righteousness,
for so Noah is called, thus preaching and predict-
ing Christ. (2 Pet. ii. 5. Heb. xi. 7.) And the
blessing of Japheth is not less to be noticed. The
prophesying father declared, that God would en-
large Japheth, or, as the margin of the Bible express-
eth it, would persuade him to dwell in the tents of
Shem ; meaning, that the race of Japheth, in the
Gentiles, should come into the fold of the Lord
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Jesus. For none but the Lord can persuade, and
none but bira, by his Holy Spirit, can render all
persuasions successful. So that we see, from the
ark. in this man's family, how effectually the Lord
provided for the eventful circumstances that were
to follow the new world. Ham and his posterity
are declared to be cursed. Shetn hath the deposit
of all the promises; and .Tapheth, the father of the
Gentiles, it was said, should be brought over to the
knowledge of salvation, and to take part in the
blessings of it. God will enlarge. (See Isa. xlix.
1-6.)
HANANIAH. A false prophet, in the days of Jere-
miah, whose history, though short, is so very strik-
ing and awful, that the Holy Ghost hath been
pleased to appoint a whole chapter in the writings of
Jeremiah to record it ; as if the Lord the Spirit in-
tended it to be frequently read in the church.
Indeed, it cannot be read too often, and especially
by all that minister in holy things. The chapter
is the twenty-eighth of Jeremiah's prophecy. I
make no farther comment in this place upon it, unless
it be to observe, that Hananiah's name but ill corres-
ponded to this character. The word signifies the
graee or gift of the Lord, from Chen or Chanan,
grace; and Jah, the Lord. Hanan-Jah.
HANNANEAH. See Shadraeh.
HANI) It was so much the custom in the eastern
world to do great and interesting actions by the
motions and signs of the hand, that we find in
Scripture continued expressions to this amount.
The "giving of the hand," as in the instance of
Jehu and Jehonadab. (2 Kings x. 15.) The
" washing of the hands," as in the case of Pilate.
(Matt, xxvii. 24.) The f stretching out of the
hands," by way of , entreaty, as mentioned Prov.
i. 24. and again Isa. Ixv. 2. All these, and much
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more to the like import, plainly shew, that the
manners of the east were such as to carry on import-
ant concerns by the ministry of the hand. In-
deed, in the western world, and in our own coun-
try, the action of the hand is not unfrequently made
use of to testify the consent of the mind. The cere-
mony of putting the right hand on the New Tes-
tament in the administration of oaths, and the or-
dinary salutation of friends, by the shaking of the
hand, are proofs in point. But what I would yet
more particularly remark on this subject, is the sa-
credness of the action in reference to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The right hand of Jehovah is well known to
be one of the names by which the Mediator, as Me-
diator, is mentioned in Scripture. (Exod.xv.6.) And
his return to glory is spoken of under this expression
of" sitting down on the right hand of God." (Ps. ex. 1.
Heb. i. 3.) Hence, therefore, with an eye to Christ,
the church is represented as looking to Jesus, and
stretching forth the hand to Jesus, in all those ex-
pressions of the word of God where the ministry
of the hand is used, in all the earnest actions of
faith. * I have set the Lord always before me"; for
he is on my right hand, that I shall not be moved."
(Ps. xvi. 8.) So again it is said, " The Lord shall
stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him
from those that condemn his soul." (Ps. cix. 31.) I
only detain the reader yet farther to remark,
what a peculiar blessedness is in the subject, con-
sidered with reference to the hand of Jesus over
his people. All that we read in the word of God
of the hands, and eyes, and ears of the Lord, as
continually engaged for his church and redeemed,
is spoken of Christ in his human nature ; and most
blessed are those things in relation to Christ. By
thus representing the Lord Jesus in those familiar
acts of our own nature, it implies, what the church
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never should lose sight of, that sympathy of Jesus
to our nature, whose hands are unceasingly stretch-
ed forth to lead, guide, and defend, and whose ears
are always open to the cries of his redeemed, and
whose eyes are upon them for good, for his delight,
and their happiness. How sweet to this purpose
are those Scriptures : " I know the thoughts I
think towards you, saith the Lord; thoughts of
peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected
end." (Jer. xxix. 11. oo again, Jer. xxxii. 41.) "Yea,
I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I
will plant them in this land assuredly, with my
whole heart, and with my whole soul."
HANES. A town on the frontiers of Ethiopia.
Some have thought it the same as Tahapanes. (See
Isa. xxx. 4. Jer. ii. 16.)
HANNAH. The wife of Elkanah. Her name sig-
nifies gracious ; and she was, indeed, a very gra-
cious woman. We have her history in the first
book of Samuel, chapter first and second. Her
hymn is truly spiritual, and forms a blessed song
concerning redemption. It is worthy remark, that
though the patriarchs, and other holy men of old,
before the days of Hannah, spoke of the Lord Jesus
under various characters belonging to him, yet
Hannah is the first that was commissioned by the
Holy Ghost to speak of him as the Messiah, the
Anointed. (See 1 Sam. ii. 10.) This was her
honour. It is worthy remark, that the Lord so dis-
tinguished this Old Testament saint to be the first
preacher of Jesus as the Anointed, and Mary Magda-
len, in the New Testament, to be the first prea-
cher of Jesus in his resurrection. (Mark xvi. 9.)
And while I remark it in her history, I beg to
call the reader's attention to an infinitely more
important consideration on the subject. If the
Lord Jesus was thus anointed, and called as such
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the Messiah (which is, in fact, the Anointed), so
many ages before his incarnation, as the glorious
Head of his body the church, was not the church
the body of that glorious Head, anoinied also in
him ? Could the Head, in this instance, be consi-
dered detached and separated from the members ?
Surely Christ, as Christ, that is, Anointed, could
not have been thus called, had not the Holy Ghost
virtually and truly, in the secret councils of Jeho-
vah, anionted him as much as God the Father
called him. (See Isa. xlii. 6.). And as such the
church was as much called and anointed in him as
his body, and that from everlasting ; and in the
everlasting love of God, the Holy Ghost presented
to the Father the object of his everlasting love
thus anointed, sanctified, and set apart, for his
glory, and the spouse of the Lord Jesus. " A
body hast thou prepared me." (Heb. x. 5.) Oh I
what a sweet and precious thought, or rather num-
berless thoughts of rapture and delight arise out
of this one view of the church's oneness and con-
nection with her glorious Head and Husband
before all worlds! Eyeing Jesus thus, as the Anoint-
ed, in his secret name and character, before the
open display of it in time, was, without all doubt,
in relation to his spouse, the church. Had not
the Father given his dear Son a church, Jesus had
not given himself to the church, and for the
church, neither would the Holy Ghost named him
as the Messiah, the Anointed, before his incarnation ;
neither after would he have anointed him and given
him without measure of his influence. But as we 6nd
the same name given of the Anointed before, as
after, he became man, and tabernacled in the sub-
stance of our flesh, nothing can be more plain, in
confirmation of this blessed truth, than that God
the Holy Ghost had an everlating love to the
H A 345
church, as the body of the Lord Jesus, before the
world began, and anointed the glorious Head, and
the church in her glorious Head, watched over her,
protected her, blessed her, and set her apart, in all
and every member of her, as "the church which
is his body, the fulness of him thatfilleth all in all."
(Eph. i. 22, 23.)
HARDNESS OF HEART. We meet with this ex-
pression very often in the word of God, and for the
most part connected with the blindness of the
heart. Thus, it is said, (Mark iii. 5.) the Redeemer
was grieved for the hardness of their hearts; the mar-
gin of the Bible renders it the blindness of their
hearts. So again, in Paul's Epistle to the Ro-
mans, (chap. xi. 25.) it is said, that u blindness in
part is happened to Israel." In the margin, blindness
is rendered hardness. And in the second Epistle to
the Corinthians, third chapter, fourteenth verse,
there the expression is, that u their minds were
blinded." From these, and the like passages, it is
plain, that the terms are one and the same, and
both mean hardness of heart unfavourable to the re-
ception of divine impressions. But what I beg the
* reader yet more particularly to mark in the phrase
is, that not unfrequently in Scripture this blindness
and hardness of the heart is ascribed to the Lord's
act. Thus in Isaiah the church in her prayer saith,
" O Lord ! why hast thou made us to err from thy
ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear !" (Isa.
lxiii. 17.) And in John xii. 39, 40. it is said, that
" they could not believe, because that Esaias had
said, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their
hearts." This memorable passage of the prophet
Isaiah, which is in chap. vi. 9, 10, hath been con-
sidered so very important by God the Holy Ghost,
that he caused it to be quoted by all the four
Evangelists, once in the Acts of the Apostles, and
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once in the Epistle to the Romans. (Matt. xiii. 14,
15. Mark iv. 12. Luke viii. 10. John xii. 39,
40. Acts xx viii. 25—27. Rom. xi. 8.) But
it is remarkable, at the same time, in those quota-
tions, how the hardening the heart by the Lord is
blended with the hardening of the heart by them-
selves. In the passage as quoted by Matthew, it
is expressly said, that their eyes they have closed.
And the same expression is used by Paul in his
quotation. (Acts xxviii. 27.) And is there the least
contradiction in the account ? Most certainly not ;
the very original passage in the prophet explains
itself. " Make the heart of this people fat, and make
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes." And may
not the Lord be said to do this, when in a fulness
of blessings of his providence the tables of such
men are so flowing over, that the bountiful hand
which spreads the whole is lost and hidden from
their view in a cloud of his own gifts? And when
men become intoxicated, and over fed, and their
eyes bloated with fatness, so that they neither dis-
cern the Lord's hand, yea, sometimes they see not
one another, may not the Lord be said to make
their heart fat, and their eyes heavy, by thus fur-
nishing the means, while the beasts themselves, by
abusing the bounties of the Lord (which, if rightly
used, would have made them his blessed instru-
ments in disposing of them to feed the hungry bel-
lies of the poor), may be truly said no less to close
their own eyes, and to harden their own hearts ?
1 must not dismiss this article without taking with
it the observation, how suited the Lord Jesus is to
remedy all the evils of a hardened heart, and the
blinded eye, in that lovely commission of his, " to
heal the broken in heart, and to give sight to them
that were blind." A broken heart, in the full sense
of the word, is a dead heart, and the blind in Scrip-
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ture is where the eyes are put out, as in the in-
stance of Zedekiah. (See Jer. lii. 11.) And in the
similar case of Samson, whose eyes were bored out,
for so the expression hath it in the margin of the
Bible. (Judg. xvl 21.) And where the Lord Jesus
exerciseth his grace, his almighty work is described
under the strong term of making a new heart, taking
away "the heart of stone, and giving an heart of
flesh ; making all things new." Hence the apostle
saith, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."
(2 Cor. v. 17.) Thus without Christ the heart of all
men is for ever hardened. And with Christ's sove-
reign grace, he, and he alone, can make every
faculty "willing in the day of his power." (Ps. ex. 3.)
HARLOT. We cannot be at a loss for the Scriptural
meaning of this word, for the word of God, in this
instance, corresponds with the general sentiments
and customs of mankind in all ages. A harlot is
the same name as a prostitute, a woman of ill fame,
or as we say, a woman of the town. (Prov. xxix. 3.)
The Lord makes use of the name by way of shew-
ing the spiritual fornication of Israel. " Thou hast
played the harlot with many lovers, yet return
again to me, said the Lord." (Jer. iii. 1.) It hath
been supposed by some, that in the case of Rahab
the harlot, it was not intended to imply the charac-
ter of a woman of ill fame. But certainly there is
no authority for supposing any other. The original
Hebrew Zona, (Josh. ii. 1.) means a harlot. And
the Septuagint, in the Greek Pome, can admit no
other translation. Both Paul and James use this
word, and our translators have most faithfully ren-
dered it, by the word harlot. (Heb. xi. 31. James
ii. 25.) The objection respecting Salmon, a prince
in Israel, marrying her, is so far from an objection
to her being a prostitute, that it should seem rather
a confirmation. We find the Lord commanding
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Hosea the prophet to marry an adulteress. (See
Hos. iii. ].) And as a figurative representation, by
type, of Jesus marrying- our adulterous nature, no-
thing could be more striking. Strange, indeed, to
our view, are all the ways and works of God ! But
it is not more marvellous that Christ, after the flesh,
should spring from Rahab, than from Thamar by
Judah. (Gen. xxxviii. 12. to the end.) The former
was by an harlot : in the instance of the latter it
was incestuous. But certain it is, that both, after
the flesh, were in the genealogy of the Lord of life
and glory, how strange soever it appears to us.
HATE. This word is so very plain in its simple
meaning, and so universally understood, that there
would have needed no observation upon it, but for
an expression of our Lord's concerning it, which
apearsto me, according to all the commentators I have
seen or read upon it, to have been totally mistaken.
The passage in which our Lord hath spoken con-
cerning hatred is Luke. xiv. 26. Where Jesus
hath said, " If any man come to me, and hate not
his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple." The hatred of father, and
mother, and the like, they say, is in contradiction
to the divine command, and, therefore, they have
conceived, that the expression means no more than
by a comparative statement, to say, that none can
be the disciple of Jesus who loves his earthly friends
equal to this heavenly one. But certainly this is
not our Lord's meaning ; for here is nothing said
in the whole passage by way of comparison. And
every one that knows the original word here made
use of to express the verb hate, knows that Misei
can mean no other than to hate. Neither is the
doctrine, when duly considered, contradictory to
the whole design of the gospel. All the claims of
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349
nature are, for the most part, unfavourable to the
pursuits of grace. And the love of our near and
dear connections in nature, every one knows that
is brought acquainted with the feelings of his own
heart, is but too often leading us on the confines of
sin and corruption. Hence, to hate whatever op-
poseth the best and purest desires of the soul, is
among the clearest evidences of a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the latter clause in this
expression of our Lord serves to explain the whole ;
" yea, and his own life also." Self-loathing, and
self-abhorring, mark the true believer's character.
And wherefore doth a child of God loathe his own
flesh, but because that flesh is always rising up in
rebellion against the Spirit. Hence, therefore, if
my own body becomes a rebel, and an enemy to
my own soul, so that I cannot do the things I would,
certainly I hate it ; and if I hate my own flesh,
from the opposition it is continually making to a
life of grace, in the same sense, and upon the same
account, I must, and do hate all the opposers of the
divine life, be they who they may, or what they may.
Nothing is to come into competition with Christ in
our affection. I believe I may venture to affirm,
that many of God's dear children look forward to
the humiliation of the grave with holy joy on this
very account, as knowing that then, and not before,
they shall drop this body of sin and death, which
now so often makes them groan. It is blessedly
said of Levi, that in his zeal and love to Jehovah's
Holy One he said, " of his father, and his mother,
I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge
his brethren, nor knew his own children." (Deut.
xxxiii. 9.) I venture, therefore, upon the whole,
to accept the words of the Lord Jesus in this Scrip-
ture by the Evangelist. (Luke. xiv. 26.) precisely
as the words themselves express this solemn truth.
^50 H A
And since every thing in nature is hostile to a life
of grace, so that my own corrupt heart is a much
greater enemy to my soul's enjoyment in Christ,
than either the world, or the powers of darkness,
I do hate all, and every tie of nature, yea, and my
own life also, in every degree, and by every way
in which they are found to oppose, or run counter,
to the pursuit of the soul in her desires after the
Lord Jesus Christ.
HAVOTH-JAIR. The villages of Jair, so called
from being in the lot of Jair the son of Manasseh.
(Num. xxxii. 41.)
HAZAEL. His name is derived from Chazah, to
see, and the El joined to it means to see God.
We have his history, and the effect wrought upon
the mind of the prophet Elisha in beholding him
with his prophetic spirit, foreseeing the cruelties
of Hazael on the children of Israel. (2 Kings
8 — 15.) The circumstance of Hazael's spreading
a cloth dipped in water over the face of Benhadad,
hath been thought by some to have been done not
with the design to kill -him. Historians tell us, that
it is the custom in the east, in those violent fevers
called Nedad, to make use of chilling methods for
their recovery. The patients drink cold water, and
a quantity of water is thrown upon them. So
that whether Hazael wished the death of his mas-
ter, or not, the dipping the cloth in water, and
covering his face with it, was among the methods
used on those occasions for recovery. Be this,
however, as it may, Hazael stands on record for a
very awful character, and his name was highly
unsuitable to his conduct. All that the prophet
Elisha foretold literally came to pass ; and he, that,
while the servant of the king his master, stood
astonished at the bare mention only of the cruel-
ties Elisha admonished him of, actually perpetrated
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the very murders which he had shuddered at,
when he became clothed with the royal purple.
(See 2 Kings xiii. 3 — 7.) Oh, what an awful
representation doth his history afford of the sin
and iniquity lurking in the human heart ! In the
whole nature of man it must be the same, for the
seeds of sin are alike in all ; and that they do not
ripen and bear the like deadly fruit in all, is
wholly owing to the preventing and restraining
grace of God. The heart that is not conscious of
this, is not conscious of the preciousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
HAZEROTH. The place where Israel, in their
journey through the wilderness, encamped. (Num.
xi. 35.) This name, like some others, Hazerim,
Hazar-addar, (Num. xxxiv. 4.) Hazah-gadda,
(Josh. xv. 27.) mean one and the same thing.
Hazer signifies the entry to the place, or village.
Thus Hazezom-Tamar, the entrance to the city
of palm trees, the same as Engedi. (See Gen.
xiv. 7.)
HEAD. It would have been unnecessary to have no-
ticed this article in the general acceptation of the
word, since every one cannot but know, that as
the head of the body, in every thing that liveth,
is the prime mover of the body ; and, indeed, is
sometimes put for the whole of the body, so is
it in common conversation considered as the first
and pre-disposing cause of all life and action,
whether considered individually, or in a community
at large. But the term Head when applied to the
Lord Jesus Christ, as " the Head of his body the
church," opens so sweet a subject for contempla-
tion, that in a work of this kind it would be unpar-
donable to pass it by. Indeed, the subject even
looks farther than this, and directs the mind of
the truly regenerated believer to behold Jehovah,
352
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in his threefold character of person, as being- the
Head of Christ, considered in his mediatorial
office, and giving- truth to all the glorious purposes
of salvation in him. It was the Lord Jehovah, in
the great scheme of redemption, before the earth
was formed, that set up Christ as the Head of his
church. All the persons of the Godhead engaged
in this plan of grace, and set the wheels agoing
from all eternity ; and hence God the Father is
called the God and Father " of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family, in heaven and
earth, is named." (Eph. iii. 14, 15.) And as to
God the Father is peculiarly ascribed the calling
of Christ, as the Head of his body the church,
(Isa. xlii. 6.) so to God the Holy Ghost is pecu-
liarly ascribed no less the anointing of Christ to
the special office of Mediator. (Isa. xlviii. 16, 17.)
And hence, in conformity to this order of things,
the apostle tells the church, when speaking of
this subject, u I would have you know, that the
head of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God."
(1 Cor. xi. 3.)
Next, in the order of things, we may view the
Headship of Christ to his church, and a most
blessed and interesting subject it becomes to our
view. The Scriptures are full of this most de-
lightful truth. Jesus, as Mediator, is the Head,
the Surety, the husband, the all in all, of his peo-
ple. He is the source of life, of light, of salva-
tion, of grace here, and glory for ever. So that
in this view of the Lord Jesus, and the church
in him, it is incalculable in how many ways, and
by what a variety of communications, this Headship
of Christ becomes a source of continual joy and
comfort to all his redeemed. They have an un-
ceasing communion with hiin whether they are
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353
conscious of it or not ; and it should be among
the highest felicities of the soul to go every
day, and all the day, in the perpetual actings
of faith upon the glorious person of the Lord
Jesus, as the Head of his body the church,
" the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Eph. i.
22, 23.)
HEART. The heart in all languages is considered
as the leading principle of action and of character
u A good man, (saith the Lord Jesus) out of the
good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that
which is good ; and an evil man, out of the evil
treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is
evil ; for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh." (Luke vi. 45.) Hence a change
of circumstances in spiritual concerns, from dark-
ness to light, is called u the taking away the heart
of stone, and giving an heart of flesh, turning the
heart of the fathers to the children, and the chil-
dren to the fathers." Hence the Lord saith, in
reference to his whole church, u I will give them
one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for
ever." (Jer. xxxii. 39.)
HEAVEN — And the heaven of heavens, are expres-
sions generally made use of to denote the more
immediate place where Jehovah hath fixed his
throne. For thus it is expressed in Scripture.
" Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool : where is the house
that ye build unto me ? and where is the place of
my rest?" (Isa. lxvi. 1.) But Solomon breaks out
in an expression, as one overwhelmed with surprise
and wonder in the contemplation : u But will God
indeed (said he) dwell on the earth ? behold, the hea-
ven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ! "
(1 Kings viii. 27.) But what would this mighty
monarch have said, had lie lived to have seen the
vol. vi. 2 x
354 H E
Lord of heaven and earth tabernacling in the sub-
stance of our flesh ?
But, though, according to the language of
Scripture, we call that place heaven which John saw
opened, and where the more immediate presence
of the Lord is gloriously displayed, yet it were to
limit the Holy One of Israel to suppose, that
Jehovah dwelleth in any place, to the exclusion of
his presence or glory elsewhere. In the immen-
sity of his Godhead, and the ubiquity of his nature
and essence, he is every where ; and, conse-
quently, that place is heaven where Jehovah's pre-
sence, in grace, and favour, and glory, is mani-
fested. How little do they know of heaven, or
of the divine love and favour, that conceive, if
they could get to heaven in the crowd, though
they know not how, and I had almost said, they
care not how, provided they could get there, how
little do they know in what consists the felicity of
the place ! Alas ! an unsanctified, unrenewed,
unregenerated heart would be miserable even in
heaven. Sweetly doth David speak of the blessed
work of assurance and grace in the soul respect-
ing heaven, and in that assurance describes the
suited preparation for it. " I shall behold (said
he) thy face in righteousness ; I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with thy likeness." (Ps. xvii. 15.)
HEBRON. See Mount Hebron.
HELL. The Hebrews called it Scheol. Some
apply it to the grave ; but the most general
acceptation of it, according to Scripture language,
is a place of torment. Thus the Psalmist saith,
K The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God." (Ps. ix. 17.) And our
blessed Lord, three times in one chapter, speaks
' of it in alarming terms. " If thiue hand offend
thee, cut it off : it is better for thee to enter into
life maimed, than having two hands, to go into
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hell, into the fire that never shall he quenched :
where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched." (Mark ix. 43 — 48.)
Some, however, have ventured to call in ques-
tion the reality of hell torments, and the very
existence of the place itself. But there is nothing
so weak and so impious as disputes on these points ;
for unless men could satisfy their minds, that God
cannot punish sin, or that he will not, it becomes
a matter more presumptuous than becoming, to
enquire the very particulars in which that punish-
ment shall consist. The Lord hath declared, that
the " wicked, and those that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with
evelasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and the glory of his power." (2 Thess. i.
8, 9.) Here is sufficient account to certify every
one of the reality of the thing itself. And the
fact itself being once admitted, the method may
surely be well supposed, that it will be such as
infinite wisdom, joined with infinite power, shall
appoint and accomplish. Here let us rest — only
following up the conviction with a prayer to Him
that hath the keys of hell and death, that he will
keep our souls from going down into hell, and
preserve us to his everlasting kingdom. Amen.
HEPHZIBAH. The mother of Manasseh was called
by this name. (2 Kings xxi. 1.) But it is infinitely
more interesting to consider, that the Lord calls
his church by this name, and the cause for which
he did, namely, because the Lord delighted in her.
The name itself conveys as much, from Chaphatz,
to will: as if the Lord had said by Hephzibah,
My will is in her.
HERESY. The church of Christ hath, in all ages,
been persecuted and divided by heresies. Indeed,
the apostle Paul saith, that "there must be here-
2 a 2
35G
sies among you, that they which are approved
may be made manifest among you." (1 Cor. xi. 19.)
Our Lord himself speaks of the Nicolaitanes,
Rev. ii. 15. The Scriptures do not tell us in
what their heresy consisted, but evidently in a de-
parture from the truth, and probably in practices
unsuitable to the purity of the gospel of Christ.
But the last days' dispensation, we are told, will
be distinguished by great departures from the
faith; and, we may truly say, already do they
appear. (1 Tim. iv. 1, &c.)
HERITAGE. We find the Lord frequently speak-
ing, in his holy word, concerning the heritage of
his people. Canaan is all along described as the
heritage the Lord had designed for Israel. (Exod.
vi. 8.) And we find also the people not unfre-
quently delighting themselves in it. u The lines
are fallen unto me (said one of old) in pleasant
places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage." (Ps. xvi. 6.)
But the Lord himself, over and above these things,
is spoken of as the heritage of his redeemed. In
the same sweet psalm, the sacred writer takes
comfort in this assurance, and saith (ver. 5.) u The
Lord himself is the portion of mine inheritance,
and of my cup : thou maintainest my lot." So
again the Lord, as the security of his people,
saith himself, that u this is the heritage of the ser-
vants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord." (Isa. liv. 17.) And as the
Lord is the heritage of his people, so his people
are said to be his; hence in times of trouble, the
church is heard to say, " They break in pieces thy
people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage." (Ps.
xciv. 5.) See some other sweet Scriptures to this
amount : (Joel ii. 17. Micah \ ii. 14 — 18. Isa.
lviii. 14.)
But when the reader hath duly pondered the
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blessed thought of beholding the Lord and his ful-
ness as the heritage of his people, and his people
as his heritage of delight, both in nature, pro-
vidence, and grace, there is one thought more
the subject of heritage proposeth to the medi-
tation that ought not to be forgotten. The
customs and manners of the eastern world
differ so widely in many points from ours, that
unless due attention be had to them we lose much
of the sense and spirit of the things spoken
of. Thus on the subject of heritages or inherit-
ance. By virtue of alliance and relationship, these
tilings were unalienable, and not liable to be
lost to the right heirs of them. A child had an
undoubted right, whether by natural birth or adop-
tion, when once lawfully acknowledged as such,
to the heritage of his birthright; neither could he
be dispossessed by the caprice, or will, of his fa-
ther. And there was another distinguishing
property in the rights of heritage among the cus-
toms and laws of the eastern world, namely, that
a son needed not to wait the death of the father
for the possession of his heritage. He might at
any time, when of age, claim it. And this throws
a light upon the subject of the younger son in the
parable. (Luke xv. 11, 12.) And although, as
in that instance, the father foresaw the abuse
and misapplication of his heritage, yet by the laws
of the east, the father could not withhold his por-
tion from him.
Now, if we make application of these customs of
the eastern world to the phrases and expressions
we meet with in Scripture, which of course, as they
were written there, had an eye to them in those
writings, what beauties do we find they frequently
give to the sense of Scripture on many points,
which we should otherwise o\erlook and be igno-
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rant of. Thus for instance, on the subject of heri-
tage now before us. The heritage of Christ's
children cannot by those laws be ever lost, or be-
come alienable. Jesus hath adopted them as his,
both by his Father's gift, and by his own purchase,
and by the conquests of his grace ; nothing there-
fore, can dispossess their undoubted right in Jesus
and his fulness as their heritage for ever. Hence
David saith, (Ps. cxix. 111.) "Thy testimonies
have I claimed as mine heritage for ever ; for they
are the rejoicing of mine heart."
Neither is this all : the heirs of God in Christ do
not wait to a distant period for the possession of their
heritage. Their God and Father never dies to render
their rightful enjoyment necessary. He lives to put
them into possession : and this they have not by
reversion, but by present inheritance, here by grace
through faith, and hereafter in glory. And though
too often, like the prodigal in the parable, we
waste and abuse the bounties of our heritage, yet,
like him, the eye of our God and Father is always
on the look-out for our return, and when by grace
brought back, as he was, we are graciously re-
ceived, and made happy in Ihe pardoning mercy
and love of our Father.
And as our person, so our mortgaged inherit-
ance ; both are secured from the same cause and full-
ness of salvation. As we have sold ourselves for
nought, so are we redeemed without money. (Isa.
lii. 3.) Jesus our elder brother, our nearest of kin,
hath ransomed both person and property. Our
inheritance was not alienable for ever, but only to
the year of jubilee. God our Father commanded
him to open his hand wide to his poor brother,
and he hath done it ; so that we are brought into
the full liberty wherewith he makes his redeemed
free, and brought home also, at length, into the
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possession of an inheritance infinitely surpassing
the one we originally forfeited, even " an inherit-
ance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away." " Oh, the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and the goodness of God!" See those
Scriptures, (Lev. xxv. 25. Deut. xv. 7, 8. 1 Pet.
i. 3—5. Rom. xi. 33.)
HERMON. The sacred hill of Hermon is often
spoken of in Scripture, and furnisheth out sweet
subject to the Hebrew poetry. David describes
the love and unity of brethren as like the dew of
Hermon. (Ps. cxxxiii. 3.) The falling of the dew
of Hermon upon the hill of Zion was very natural,
for Zion joined to it. And travellers describe
the dew of this place as falling plentifully like
showers.
HEROD. It may be proper, for the better appre-
hension of the name of Herod, to state some short
account of the several we meet with in the New
Testament. There are several mentioned, but
they are different men. Indeed, but for their his-
tory being incorporated with the history of our
Lord and his apostle, their names would not be
worth recording, but their memory might have
perished with them.
The first Herod made mention of in holy Scrip-
ture, was called Herod the Great. He reigned in
Judea at the time of our Lord's birth. (Matt. ii. 1.)
His name, according to the Greek language, signi-
fied the glory of the skin. But it became a very
unsuitable name for the miserable end he made,
according to the historians of his time, for he died
of an universal rottenness. He reigned more than
thirty years, and by his death, as we read Matt. ii.
19, gave opportunity for the return of the Lord
Jesus, to depart from Egypt, about the third year
before [we begin the date of Anno Domino. \
360 H E
mention this the more particularly, to guard the
reader against the mistake into which some have
fallen, in confounding this Herod with the Herod
mentioned Acts. xii. which was his grandson.
The second Herod we meet with in the Bible, is
Herod called Philip. (See Markvi. 17. and Luke
iii. 1.) This Herod, as history informs us, was son
to the former. And the third Herod went by the
name of Antipas. This man was also sou of Herod
the Great, and brother to Philip. And this was
he who, during the life of his brother, had married
Herodias, his brother's wife ; and John the Baptist
faithfully reproving him for the shameful deed,
Herod, at the instance of her daughter, whom she
had by Philip her first husband, caused John to
be beheaded. (See Matt. xiv. 1—12. Mark. vi.
14—29.)
The fourth Herod we meet with in Scripture, is
the one mentioned with such everlasting infamy in
the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
His name was Agrippa, but surnamed Herod ; the
son of Aristobulus and Mariamne, and grandson to
Herod the Great. So much for the Herods ! An
awful though short account of such awful charac-
ters ; while living, a terror to all around them, and
when dead, lamented by none !
HERODIANS— Were a sect of Jews, so called,
perhaps, from appearing at the time of Herod the
Great, and not before ; though some have thought,
that by way of complimenting Herod they assumed
the name of Herodians. Certain it is, that Herod
affected to be thought of the seed of David, though
there could be but little doubt, that he was, by na-
tion, an Idumean. But as the general expectation
of the Jewish nation, at that time, was on the tiptoe
for their king the Messiah to appear, to deliver
them from the Roman yoke, and to raise an empire
361
that should conquer the world, Herod was glad to
fall in with this popular idea, not doubting' but that
they would regard him as the person. His disap-
pointment at the birth of Christ, and the account
the wise men who came from the east to Jerusalem,
to seek for the new-born Prince, explains what we
read of him, and his infamous cruelty. (Matt. ii.
1 — 18.) This sect was evidently the creatures of
Herod, and as such bore his name. Their endea-
vours to entangle Jesus in his talk, and to accuse
him before the Roman government, very plainly
prove how inimical they were to the doctrines of
Christ. (Matt. xxii. 15, 16.)
HEZEKIAH. King of Judah, the son of Ahaz and
Abi. His name is striking, Hezek and Jah, signi-
fying the strength of the Lord. We have his his-
tory 2 Kings xviii. xix. xx. And so very import-
ant was the life of this prince considered, to form
a part in the records of the church, that the Holy
Ghost directed the prophet Isaiah to give it again
in his prophetical writings. (See Isa. xxxvi.
xxxvii. xxxviii. xxxix.) The miraculous effect
wrought on the sun-dial, in confirmation of the
Lord's promise to Hezekiah, is an evident testimony
of the Lord's favour to this prince. Hezekiah's
hymn is beautiful, Isa. xxxviii. 10 — 20.
HID and HIDDEN. I pause over these words merely
to remark, that in Scripture they express a great
deal. It was the custom very generally through
the eastern world, to secrete and bury their treasures
and valuables. We are told by a certain author,
that there are a set of men who make it their busi-
ness to go about in search of treasure supposed to
have been hidden ; and so general is the idea, that
vast treasures are concealed in the earth, by men
who died without making discovery of them to their
friends, that this employment of digging in pursuit
362
of wealth is a common thing. This will throw a
great light upon those expressions in the word of
God, which enjoin an earnest pursuit after the know-
ledge and love of the Lord. " If thou seekest
after wisdom (saith Solomon,) as silver, and search-
est for her as for hid treasures, then shaltthou un-
derstand the fear of the Lord, and find the know-
ledge of God." (Prov. ii. 4, 5.) Nothing could be
more happily chosen to intimate that earnest un-
wearied pursuit after Jesus, as men seeking for what
lay buried out of sight. And when that life, which the
apostle saith, is hid with Christ in God, (Col. iii. 3.)
is discovered, yea, in the smallest degree, this is
like what the Lord said to Cyrus : 8 1 will give thee
the treasure of darkness, and hidden riches of secret
places." (Isa. xlv. 3.) Views of Jesus, to the dis-
covery by God the Holy Ghost, lead the soul to
the enjoyment of him, " in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. " (Coloss.ii.3.)
HIEL. The Bethelite of Jericho. His name im plies,
the life of God ; from Chajak, to live ; and El, God.
I refer the reader to those two passages in Scrip-
ture, for the short but striking account of this man,
whose boldness, in face of the curse Joshua pro-
nounced, led him to so daring an act as that of
building Jericho, and whose rashness the Lord so
fully punished, in conformity to his servant's predic-
tion. (See Josh. vi. 26. with 1 Kings xvi. 34. See
also Elisha.)
HIGH PLACES. We meet with frequent mention
in the Bible of high places. Perhaps, in the ori-
ginal design of them, they had been made sacred
spots, and hallowed to the service of the true God
of Israel ; but, in process of time, they were used
for idol-worship. The people called them Bamah,
or, perhaps more properly, Bamoth. (See Ezek. xx.
29.) Those places were continued to the days of
363
Christ, and called Proseuchy, or prayer-houses.
Some of the kings of Israel, though going a good
way in a spirit of reform, had not courage enough,
or wanted the grace, to abolish those places of idol-
worship. See (1 Kings xxii. 43.) Of good king
Josiah, much praise was due to him on this account.
See (2 Kings xxiii. 15.)
MOST HIGH and MOST HIGHEST. We find fre-
quent mention made, in holy Scripture, of the Lord
Jehovah under these appellations ; and very bles-
sed and proper they are, when speaking of him.
The latter of them, except with an eye to him,
would be a breach of grammar, but becomes beau-
tiful, in compounding two superlatives, in reference
to the Lord Jehovah, of whom it must be truly
said, without exceeding the bounds of language, as
one of the sacred writers expresseth it, u There is no
end of his greatness." (Ps. cxlv. 3.)
HILKIAH. The father of Eliakim, (2 Kings xviii.
18.) His name signifies, the Lord is my portion,
from Cheleath, a portion ; and Jah, the Lord. So
also the father of Jeremiah was called by this name,
(Jer. i. 1.) and the sonof Amaziah. (1 Chron. vi. 45.)
HIND. We meet this name, with peculiar emphasis
of expression, in the title of the twenty-second
Psalm ; and whoever reads that psalm, as it is evi-
-dently written, prophetically of Christ, will not
hesitate to conclude, that he is the hind of the
morning, to which the whole psalm refers. Hunted
as a hind, or a roe upon the mountains, from the
morning of his incarnation to the close of his life
on the cross. " Dogs (as he said) compassed him
about, the assembly of the wicked enclosed him ;
they pierced my hands and my feet," said the meek
Redeemer.
And if we consider the quality and character of
the hind, we discover strong features of resem-
3b'4
blance whereby Jesus might be pictured. The hind
is up with the first of the morning, at break of dav.
So was our Jesus first in the morning councils of
eternity, when, at the call of God, he stood forth
the Surety for all his people. Moreover, the sweet-
ness of the hind is almost proverbial." Be thou (saith
the church to Jesus), " be thou as a roe, or a young
hart, upon the mountains of Bether." (Song ii. 17.)
And who shall speak of the earnestness of the Lord
Jesus to come over the mountains of sin, and hills
of corruption, in our nature, when he came to seek
and save that which was lost? Who shall describe
those numberless anticipations which we find in the
Old Testament of Jesus, in appearing sometimes as
an angel, and sometimes in an human from ? as if
to say, how much he longed for the time to come,
when he should openly appear, in the substance of
our flesh, as " the hind of the morning !"
And there is another beautiful resemblance in
the hind, or roe, to Christ, in the loveliness as well
as swiftness of this beautiful creature. Nothing can
be more lovely than the young roe, or hart. And
what equally so to Christ, who is altogether lovely,
and the " fairest among ten thousand?" He is lovely
in his form and usefulness ; hated indeed, by ser-
pents, but to all the creation of God excellent.
His flesh the most delicious food — " whose flesh is
meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed." " Be
thou, (said the church,) like to the roe, or to the
" young hart, upon the mountains of spices." (Song
viii. 14.)
HINNOM. The valley Gehennon, called also the
valley of Tophet. Gehennon is the Syriac word
for hell. The same is meant by Tophet. These
several names it should seem, were all equally
applied to the same place. The prophets Isaiah
and Jeremiah both speak of this awful spot.
365
(Isa. xxx. 33. Jer.vii. 31.) And it is said, that Josiah,
the good king-, " defiled the place that is, he de-
stroyed it for the purpose for which it had been
used, by those wretched parents who had been
deluded to sacrifice their children to the idol-god
Molech, in this spot. (See 2 Kings xxiii. 10.) For
by destroying it, that cruel, unnatural, and impious
practice could no more be done there. Some have
thought, that the name Tophet took its rise from
Thoph, a drum ; for it is supposed, that this, and
perhaps other musical instruments, were loudly
sounded upon those occasions, to drown the pierc-
ing cries of the poor children. The name of Hin-
nom is derived from the sons of Hinnom. (Joshua
xv. 8.) See Molech.
HIRAM. King of Tyre. A name rendered memora-
ble from his friendship with Solomon. His name,
according to the Hebrew phraseology, Huram, sig-
nifies a lifting up. (See 1 Kings v. 1.)
HIRELING, hi Scripture language, our nature is
frequently spoken of as an hireling. " Is there not
an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his
days also like the days of an hireling?" (Job vii. 1.)
By the law, the Lord made a gracious provision
for the hireling, commanding that his wages should
not abide all night, until the morning. (Lev.
xix. 13.) Under the gospel, the term of hireling is
used both in a favourable sense, and also as a mark
of worthlessness. Thus faithful servants of the Lord,
in the ministry of his word and ordinances, are des-
cribed as labourers sent into the vineyard by the
Almighty Householder, and who, after the labour of
the day, are called home to receive their hire ; be-
ginning from the last to the first. So that solemnly
engaged in Christ's service, and hired to the work,
they are supposed to labour in the word and doc-
trine with a single eye to the Lord's glory. They
366
are, as instruments in the Lord's hand to break up
the fallow ground of the hearts of their people, and
to water the garden of Jesus. (Matt. xx. 1 — 16.)
Whereas the mere hirelings, who enter the service
of the Lord Jesus, not for love to the Lord, nor af-
fection to his people, are represented as engaged
only for filthy lucre's sake. These seek the fleece,
not to serve the flock. They look for gain, every
one to his own quarter; for so the prophet des-
cribes them. (Isa. lvi. 11.) Our Lord, in his un-
equalled manner, hath strikingly defined their
character. (John x. 12, 13.)
HISS. In the general acceptation of this word, as we
now use it, it is universally, I believe, considered
as a mark of reproach or contempt. And we find,
that it was so used from the earliest ages. The
patriarch Job, (Chap, xxvii. 23.) saith, that the
hypocrite shall be so confounded, that men shall
clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of
his place. And the Lord declared, that if the peo-
ple departed from following him, he would cause
the house which Solomon had built for the Lord
to become a proverb and a bye-word, and men
should hiss at it as they passed by. (1 Kings ix.
7, 8.) But, beside this acceptation of the word, cer-
tain it is, that it is also used in a favourable point of
view, and sometimes means the call of the Lord to
his ministers and messengers, for the performing
his sovereign will and pleasure. Thus the Lord
saith, that he will " lift up an ensign to the nations
from far, and will hiss unto them, that is, will call
them from the end of the earth. " (Isa. v. 26.) So
again the bee of Egypt, and the bee of Assyria,
meaning the armies of those natious, the Lord saith,
he will hiss for : that is, will call them. (Isa. vii. 18.)
But the ultimate object of this hissing of the Lord,
in his sovereign command, is, to bring on the per-
H O
367
petual reproach of the ungodly. "I will make this
city desolate, and an hissing- : every one that pas-
seth thereby shall be astonished, and hiss because
of the plagues thereof." (Jer. xix. 8.)
HOBAB. Son of Jethro, and brother-in-law to Moses,
His name signifies, beloved, from Chabab, to love.
HODAVIAH. Of the tribe of Manasseh. (1 Chron.
v. 24.) His name is compounded of Hod, praise,
and Jah, the Lord.
HOLY, HOLINESS, most HOLY. In Scripture
language, strictly and properly speaking, these
terms are only applicable to the Lord. In short,
the very term means Jehovah himself, for he, and
and he only, is holy in the abstract. Hence it is,
that we so often meet with those expressions des-
criptive of his person and character. u Thus saith
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. Thus saith the
High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell
in the high and holy place." (Isa. lvii. 15.) Hence
the term is applied to all the persons of the God-
head distinctly and separately, and to all in common ;
the Father speaks of it with peculiar emphasis,
yea, confirms his promises by the solemnity of an
oath, and does this, by pledging his holiness as the
fullest assurance of the truth : " Once have I sworn
by my holiness, that T will not lie unto David." (Ps.
lxxxix. 35.) The Son of God is also spoken of
with peculiar emphasis, as essentially holy in himself,
in his divine nature, " being One with the Father,
over all God blessed forever, Amen." (Rom. ix. 5.)
Thus in special reference to the Lord Jesus, as the
Son of God, when the prophet is speaking both of
the Father and the Son, he joins in one verse the
person of each, and gives to each the distinguish-
ing character of the Godhead. u Fear not, thou
worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel : I will help, saith
the Lord, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of
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H O
Israel. (Isa. xli. 14.) In like manner, God the Holy
Ghost is peculiarly and personally considered
under this Almightiness of character, his Holiness ;
and the same divine perfection declared to be essen-
tially his, in common with the Father and the Son.
Indeed, as if to define the glory of his person,
Holy is the essential and incommunicable name by
which the Eternal Spirit is known and distinguished
throughout his sacred word. Hence, in his offices
it is said of him, that by his overshadowing power
acting on the body of the Virgin, at the conception
of Christ, that Holy Thing, so called, should be
born. (See Luke i. 35.) So again, at the baptism
of Christ, the blessed Spirit seen by Christ, decend-
ing like the hovering of a dove, and lighting upon
the person of Christ, and thus distinguished in point
of personality from God the Father, whose voice
from heaven, in the same moment, declared Jesus
to be his beloved Son, in whomhe was well pleased.
(Matt. iii. 16,17.) And holiness is essentially and
personally ascribed to God the Holy Ghost, in that
gracious office of his, when it is said of the Lord
Jesus, that God the Father anointed Jesus of Naza-
reth with the Holy Ghost, and with power. (Acts
x. 38.)
But what I beg the reader particularly to observe
with me, under this glorious distinction of character,
belonging to each and to all the persons of the God-
head, is the very peculiar manner in which the holi-
ness of Jehovah is spoken of in Scripture. While
each person of the Godhead is thus plainly said to
be holy, in the abstract of the word, and in a way
of holiness that can be ascribed to no other; the
worship and adoration of the Holy Three in One is
peculiarly offered up in this very character. When
Isaiah saw Christ's glory, (see Isaiah vi. compared
with John xii. 41.) the acclamations of the heavenly
360
"host resounded to the praises of Jehovah, under
thrice ascriptions of the same, to the holiness of
the Lord. So in like manner in John's vision. (See
Rev. iv. 8.) Certainly (this Trisagium,) this peculiar
adoration of Jehovah in the holiness of his nature,
rather than to any of the other perfections of the
Lord, must have a meaning-. Wherefore this divine
attribute should be singled out, rather than the
faithfulness of Jehovah, which we know the Lord
delights in, (see Deut. vii. 9.) or the eternity of
Jehovah, which the Lord describes himself by, (see
Isa. 1 vii 15.) I dare not venture even to conjecture.
We are commanded to worship the Lord, indeed,
in the beauty of holiness. (Ps. xcvi. 9.) And Moses's
song celebrates the Lord's praise, in being glorious
in holiness. (Exod. xv. 11.) And no doubt, as in
the portrait of a man, to behold it in its most com-
plete form, we should take all the prominent fea-
tures of beauty, so the holy Scriptures of God,
when sketching the divine representation, do it in
all that loveliness of character, so as to endear the
Lord to every heart, Hence David made this the
one great desire of his soul, u to dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple."
(Ps. xxvii. 4.) I must not forget, under this article
yet farther to observe, that the thrice ascribing- ho-
liness to Jehovah in the song of heaven, hath been
uniformly and invariably considered by the church,
as the suited adoration to each person of the God-
head, ana, at the same time, to ail, collectively
considered, in the one glorious and eternal Jeho-
vah, existing in a threefold character of persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (I John v. 7.)
Having thus briefly considered the subject, a^
referring to the holiness of Jehovah in his own
eternal power and Godhead, the subject must now
vol. vi. 2 B
370
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be considered in reference to the person of the
God-man Christ Jesus, and then to the church in
him.
As strictly and properly speaking, the term
holy can belongto none but Jehovah, and so the song
of Hannah beautifully set forth, (1 Sam. ii. 2.) so
none but the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the Christ of God, can be holy. The highest order
of created beings, angels of the first magnitude,
have only a derived holiness from the Lord, as
the moon's brightest light is only borrowed from
the sun. The holiness of creatures can be no
other than as the shadow to the substance. Hence
we are told, that in the very moment of adoration
" angels veil their faces," as if to testify their no-
thingness in the presence of the Lord. (Isa. vi. 2.)
But, by the union of that pure holy portion of our
nature which the Son of God hath united to him-
self in the Godhead of his nature, he hath commu-
nicated an infinite dignity to that nature, and made
it holy as himself. In fact, it is truly and properly
himself ; for in Christ, God and man in one per-
son, dwelleth "all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily." (Col. ii. 9.) And hence, in proof, we have
these blessed Scriptures. Daniel, when speaking
of Christ as coming " to finish transgression, and
to make an end of sin," saith, that this is u to
anoint the Most Holy." (Dan. ix. 24.) And an-
other prophet calls Christ, as Christ, the Holy
One. u Thou shalt not smTer thine Holy One to
see corruption." (Ps. xvi. 10.) And the Lord
Jesus had this name specifically given him before
his incarnation, the Holy Thing. (Luke i. 35.) And
Peter, in his sermon, peculiarly denominates the
Lord Jesus Christ, in his mediatorial character,
the Holy One, and the Just. (Acts iii. 14.) All
which, and more to the same amount, are ex-
H O
371
pressly spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his
person and character as the Head of his body
the Church, God and man in one person. " For
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harm-
less, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens." (Heb. vii. 26.) Such,
then, is the personal holiness of the Lord Jesus
Christ — an holiness higher than the angels, be-
cause the infinite holiness of the Godhead in him
is underived. Hence of angels, it is said, the
Lord " chargeth them with folly ;" (Job iv. 18.)
that is, with weakness, and the possibility of sinning.
But of the Son, he saith, "Thy throne,0 God, is for
ever and ever;" that is, his mediatorial throne,
as is plain by what follows : * Thou hast loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore,
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Heb. i. 8, 9.)
Here is a double proof that this is said to Christ,
as Christ ; for in the first place, the anointing of
the Lord Jesus could not have been as God only,
but as God and man in one person. And, se-
condly, this anointing with the oil of gladness is
expressly said to have been "for, or above his fel-
lows," that is, his body the Church ; evidently
proving hereby, that he is considered, and here
spoken of, as "the glorious Head of his body the
church, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
(Ephes. i. 22, 23.)
Next, we must take a view of the term holy
and holiness, as relating to Christ's church, made
so only by virtue of her union with him. And
this becomes a most interesting part to be con-
sidered, because without an eye to the Lord Jesus,
nothing in the creation of God can be farther from
holiness, than poor, fallen, ruined, undone man.
I beg the reader's particular attention to this, as
2 B 2
372
H 0
forming one of the sweetest features of the gos-
pel. The whole Scriptures of God declare, that
the great purpose for which the Son of God
became incarnate, was to destroy the works of the
devil, and to raise up the tabernacles of David
that were fallen down, and to purify to himself
" a peculiar people, zealous of good works." One
of the apostles, in a very interesting and beautiful
manner, describes the Lord Jesus in this endearing
character, as engaged in the great work of salvation.
u Christ (saith he) loved the church, and gave
himself for it: that he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water, by the word, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but
that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph.
v. 25 — 27.) And hence, in conformity to this
gracious design of the Lord Jesus, we find the
church of God, beheld as in oneness and union
with her glorious Husband, spoken of, in all ages
of the church, under this precious character.
"Ye shall be (saith Moses to the true Israel of God)
a peculiar treasure unto me above all people ;
and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,
and an holy nation." (Exod. xix. 5, 6.) And hence
the gospel-charter, corresponding to the same as
the law by Moses had typically represented, makes
the same proclamation. " Ye are (saith Peter)
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew
forth the praises of Him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvellous light." (I Pet.
ii. 9.) And if it be asked, as well it may, how is
it that the church of the Lord Jesus, which in
every individual member of it is continually com-
plaining of a body of sin and death, believers
carry about with them from day to day, how is it
that such can be called holy before the Lord ?
The answer is at hand, and perfectly satisfactory- :
They are so, from their union with, and their
right and interest in their glorious Head; for if
■ he was made sin for them, who knew no sin," it
is but just that they, who in themselves have no
righteousness, should be made ~ the righteousness
of God in him." (2 Cor. v. 21.) And if the church
be commanded, as that the church is, and by
God the Faiher himself, to call Christ - the Lord
our righteousness, r equally proper is it, and
by the same authority also, that the church
should be called the Lord our righteousness, as
the lawful wife bearing her husband's name.
(Compare Jer. xxiii. 6. with xxxiii. 16.) And all
this because the Lord Jesus hath married his
church, hath made her holy in his holiness,
and is become to her, by God the father's own
coveuant-engagements, a wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption ; that, according as
it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." (1 Cor. i. 30.) Such, then, are the beau-
tiful Scripture news of holy and of holiness, in the
lovely order of it. First, as beheld in the persons
of the Godhead, in the very being of Jehovah.
Secondlv, as the same in the personal holiness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Christ of God, and
the glorious Head of his body the church. And
thirdly, as making holy the whole body of the
church CM Jesus, and from Jesus, and by Jesus,
united to him. And hence, from this union, every
thing that is called holy in Scripture, derives that
sanctity. The temple, the holy of holies, the
vessels of the sanctuary, the ordinances, sacrifice-,
and all that belonged to the Jewish church. And,
under the Christian dispensation, every thing
found in the simple services of Christ's church is
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no otherwise holy, than as it derives that purity
from Christ's person ; Christ is all, and in all. Yea,
heaven itself, into which Jesus is gone as the fore-
runner of his people, hath all its holiness and
blessedness from him. John tells the church, that
" he saw no temple there, for the Lord God
Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it."
(Rev. xxi. 22.)
HOLY GHOST. Besides referring back to the
former article concerning this almighty Lord, it
may be proper to subjoin some of the names and
offices by which God the Holy Ghost is known in
Scripture. I say some, for to bring forward all
is perhaps beyond the power or the province of
man. Our blessed Lord, over and above the
sacred names the Holy Ghost hath in common
with the Father and the Son in the essence of the
Godhead, hath graciously taught his church the
special titles and appellations by which the Lord
the Spirit is known. He is called the u Spirit of
truth, by Jesus that leads his church into all truth."
(John xiv. 17.) Jesus speaks of him as a " Wit-
ness to testify of him." (John xv. 26.) And his
servant, the apostle Paul, following the steps of
his divine Master, calls the Holy Ghost by the
same name. See a beautiful account of the
almighty Spirit to this amount. (Rom. viii. 1 — 16.)
As the Holy Ghost the Comforter, the Lord Jesus
most blessedly describes him. (John xiv. 16 — 26.)
Indeed, this is his great work ; for under whatever
divine operations the Lord the Spirit brings the
people of God, the first and ultimate design of
the whole, is for consolation. Hence Paul prays
for the communion and fellowship of the Holy
Ghost to be with the church. (2 Cor. xiii. 14.)
And it is most blessed to every child of God, when
brought into the fellowship and communion of the
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Holy Ghost, to discover how that almighty Com-
forter opens a communication between Christ and
the soul, and keeps it open by the exercises of
his grace ; so that, while the person of the Father,
or the Son, is coming- forth to bless the soul, he
draws forth and leads out the actings of the soul's
faith and love upon the glorious persons of the
Godhead, and gives " a joy unspeakable and full
of glory."
The Lord Jesus also points to the person and
office of the Holy Ghost, as a Leader and Guide
to his chosen, John xvi. 13 ; as a Glorifier of
Jesus, John xvi. 14 ; as the Remembrancer also
of Jesus, John xiv. 26. And as the prophet
Isaiah had been commanded to tell the church of
this sovereign Lord, under his almighty offices,
as acting with "a spirit of judgment and a
spirit of burning," (Isa. iv. 4.) the Lord Jesus
more fully opens the nature of these heart-search-
ing works of the Holy Ghost, in shewing that it
consists in " convincing of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment." (John xvi. 8 — 11.) In short,
so many, so diversified, so constant, and so unre-
mitting are the operations of the Holy Ghost on
the hearts and minds of the Lord's people, that
it must with truth be said, that he, and he only,
is the almighty minister in the church of Christ,
and to him alone the whole efficiency of the gos-
pel, both in work and blessing, is committed.
And, indeed, the beautiful order in the covenant
of grace, and the economy of redemption, makes
it necessary so to be. For, as the whole Three
persons of the Godhead all concurred in the vast
design, and all guaranteed to each other concern-
ing the several offices in the departments of
grace, so it became essential, that in the carrying
on and completing the work, each almighty person
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should be engaged in it in his own specific office
and character. The Father gave the church ;
the Son redeemed the church ; and God the
Holy Ghost sanctifies the church. God the Father
appears in the Old Testament dispensation, hold-
ing forth the promised Saviour with all his bless-
ings, as coming for salvation ; God the Son takes
up the wonderful subject under the New Testament
dispensation, as thus coming and finishing all that
was promised in the Old ; and now that the Son
of God hath finished transgression, made an end
of sin, and is returned unto glory, God the Holy
Ghost is come downr agreeably to Jesus's and his
Father's most sure promise, to render effectual
the whole purpose of redemption, by his divine
offices in the hearts of the redeemed. And thus
the church is taught to give equal and undivided
praise and glory to the united source of all her
mercies, in the Father's love, the Sou's grace, and
the Spirit's fellowship.
It would be little less than the brief recapitula-
tion of the Bible, to go over all that might be
brought forward concerning the agency of God the
Holy Ghost in the church. From the first awaken-
ings of grace in the heart, until grace is con-
summated in glory, believers are taught to look
to that Holy and eternal Spirit, for his leadings
and influences in and through all. The regene-
ration by the Holy Ghost, in the first motions of
the spiritual life, John iii. 3 ; the baptisms of the
Spirit, so essential in the spiritual life, 1 Cor.
xii. 13 ; the illuminations of the Spirit, 2 Cor.
iv. 6; the "indwelling residence of the Spirit, 'r
John xiv. 16 17 ; the " receiving of the Holy
Ghost," Acts viii. 15 — 17 ; the " walking in the
Spirit," Acts bo 31 ; the "renewing of the Holy
Ghost," Tit. iii, 5 ; the sealings and earnest of the
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Spirit, Ephcs. i. 13. 2 Cor. v. 5. All these, and
infinitely more to the same effect, prove his sove-
reign and unceasing agency. But having already
swollen this article beyond the usual limits, I must
close these observations with only praying that holy
and eternal Teacher in the church of the Lord Jesus,
to grant some sweet and precious token of his grace
and power, by setting his seal in the heart both of
the writer and reader, that the truth of his minis-
try may be known, and felt, and adored, to his
glory, and to our comfort and joy. u May the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believ-
ing, that ye may abound in hope, through the
power of the Holy Ghost." (Rom. xv. 13.)
HONEY. There is frequent mention made in Scrip-
ture concerning honey. It is made, indeed, by
the Lord himself, a type of the promised land.
And the manna from heaven, that the Lord fed
the church with in the wilderness forty years, is
said in taste, to have been " like wafers made with
honey." (Exod. xvi. 31.) Notwithstanding this,
it is somewhat remarkable, that the Lord forbade
the offering of it upon the altar. (Lev. ii. 11.) The
Lord Jesus, in commending the loveliness and
sweetness of his church, compares her lips to the
"droppings of the honeycomb." (Song iv. 11.)
We may well suppose the figure is just, as well
as beautiful, because Christ himself useth it. And
when the church is in public prayer, or a believer
is in private devotion, and the Holy Ghost is lead-
ing the soul in those sacred exercises, it is indeed
u sweet as the honeycomb to the soul, and health
to the bones." (Prov. xvi. 24.) And when Jesus's
name and salvation are the gracious themes of
the believer's exercise ; whether in prayer or praise
or reading the word, or religious conversation ;
every act, like the sweetness of honey, is grateful.
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The prophet describes the blessed effect in a very
lively manner. (Mai. iii. 16, 17.) " Then they
that feared the Lord, spake often one to another,
and the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book
of remembrance was written before him, for them
that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his
name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord
of hosts, in that day when I make up mv jewels ;
and I will spare them, as a man spare th his own
son that serveth him." See Milk.
HOPE. In the strict and proper sense of the word,
this is Christ; for He, and He only, as the prophet
hath described him, " is the Hope of Israel, and
the Saviour thereof." (Jer. xiv. 8.) And, indeed,
this view must be uniformly preserved and kept
up, because, without an eye to Christ, there can
be no such thing as hope, for all our whole nature
is, in its universal circumstances, " without God,
and without hope in the world." (Eph. ii. 12.)
And it is very blessed to turn over the Scriptures
of God, and behold the Lord Jesus Christ set
forth under this endeared character, in a great
variety of figures and representations, throughout
the whole Bible.
Jesus was the grand hope of all the Old Testa-
ment believers before his incarnation. They all,
like Abraham, saw " his day afar off," rejoiced and
were glad ; and, like him, amongst all the discourag-
ing circumstances they had to encounter " against
hope, they believed in hope." Hence, though
the longing expectation of the church, as Solomon
expressed it, was like " hope deferred, which mak-
eth the heart sick ;" (Prov. xiii. 12.) yet, as Jere-
miah was commissioned to tell the church, there
was still " hope in the end, saith the Lord, that the
children of Christ should come to their own bor-
der." (Jer. xxxi. 17.)
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Christ, therefore, being held up to the church's
view as the hope of his redeemed, is set forth
under various similitudes corresponding to this
character. His people are called u prisoners of
hope." (Zech, ix. 12.) And the apostle Paul,
under the same figure, calls himself the Lord's
prisoner, and saith, it js for "the hope of Israel,
I am bound with this chain." (Acts xxviii. 20.
Eph. iv. 1.) And elsewhere, he described -it
under the strong metaphor of " an anchor to the
soul, both sure and steadfast." (Heb. vi. 19.) In
short, Christ is the only hope of eternal life, to
which we are • begotten by his resurrection from
the dead. In him our flesh is said to rest in
hope," when returning to the dust ; and all our
high expectations of life and immortality are ex-
pressed, in " looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the Great God, and our
Saviour, Jesus Christ." (See those Scriptures,
Titus ii. 13. 1 Pet. i. 3. Ps. xvi. 9.)
As Christ then is the only true hope the Scrip-
tures speak of, it is very evident, that every other
hope, not founded in Christ, is and must be deceit-
ful. The world is full of hope, and the life of
carnal and ungodly men is made up of it. But
what saith the Scripture, of all such. "The hope
of the hypocrite, saith Job, shall be cut off, and
his trust shall be as a spider's web." (Job viii. 14.)
So that the hope of the faithful, which is Christ
himself, affords the only well-grounded confidence
for the life that now is, and that which is to come.
And this " hope maketh not ashamed, because the
love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the
Holy Ghost." It is founded in Christ, and is, in-
deed, Christ formed in the heart, " the hope of
glory." (Rom. v. 5. Col. i. 27.)
HOPHNI. One of the sons of Eli. His name signifies
380
to cover, from the Hebrew Chaphah. This man's
history is a very awful one, as we read it, 1 Sam.
ii. iii. iv. His brother Phinehas, or Pinehai more
properly, and which signifies a countenance or
face, from Panah, to behold, was another such
a character as himself. Both lived in the commis-
sion of the same sins, and both died under the
same judgment of God. The infamy of these
men while ministering before the Lord, the Holy
Ghost hath faithfully recorded ; and their history
presents itself as a mounment in the church, to be
read by all that minister in holy things. Oh, that
the Lord may cause it to operate as an alarm in
the Lord's holy mountain !
The sin of those priests respecting the sacrifice
is not, at first view, so generally understood.
The peace-offerings, as prescribed by the law,
(Lev. iii. 1, 8>cc.) give directions for the fat of the
beasts offered in sacrifice, and also for the parts
to be taken away. The portion allotted to the
priests Moses directed. (Lev. vii. 31 — 34.) For the
servants, therefore, to demand the portion for his
master before the Lord's portion, was irreverent
and unbecoming. Add to this, they were not con-
tent with the priest's portion, it should seem, but
took more, and that, if not immediately given, by
violence. They were what the prophet called
u greedy dogs, that never could have enough." (Isa.
hi. 11.) The irreverence of the priests brought
contempt, as might well be supposed, upon the
offerings of the Lord. Alas ! what accumulated
evils follow the commission of sin in the service of
the sanctuary ! See Eli.
HOR. The mountain where Aaron died, the fortieth
year of Israel's departure from Egypt. The name
of Hor means, who conceives.
HOREB. The memorable place where the visions
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381
t)f God began with Moses. Here it was, that this
great leader of the armies of Israel had his first
view of God in Christ. That this was Christ, the
Angel of the Covenant, who manifested himself to
the man of God, there can be no question, by com-
paring the account of this solemn interview, as it
is related in Exodus, chap. iii. and as it is ex-
plained by Stephen, Acts vii. 30—32. Horeb,
and mount Sinai, were so close to each other, that
they both, at a distance, appeared but as one
mountain. Here it was, that Moses struck the rock
at the foot of Horeb. (Exod. xvii. 6—8.) And
Rephidim was near at hand. From hence the
progress of the rock that followed Israel took its
rise, and which the apostle to the Corinthians
plainly declares was Christ. (1 Cor. x. 4.) So
that Horeb, which in its original sense signifies a
desert and dryness, was admirably suited both to
Moses and Israel, to teach them that from the dry
and desert state of our fallen nature ariseth the
very cause of finding springs in Christ. It is from
our misery Christ takes occasion to magnify the
glory of his mercy; and from the drought of
Horeb, the rock that follows Israel, even Christ,
furnished a fulness of living water to the soul. The
name of Rephidim, which is in the plural number,
and signifies places of rest, from Raphab, rest, is
no unapt representation of our nature resting in
itself, without any thing in our own power to give
satisfaction to the dry soul. Here will be alwajs
" Massah and Meribah, that is, temptation and
chiding," till Christ, the rock of living water, is
discovered and enjoyed. See Sinai.
HORITES. An ancient people, who dwelt in mount
Seir. (Gen. xiv. 6.) Perhaps, in latter days, they
were mingled with, and lost their name in the
Edomites, or children of Esau. (Deut. ii. 1, &c.)
382
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HORN and HORNS. This word in Scripture doth
not seem to be very generally understood. Cer-
tainly it is more than once spoken of in reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Jehovah saith, " I
will make the horn of David to flourish," meaning
Christ. (See Ps. cxxxii. 17.) And Zacharias
celebrates Christ to the same amount in his song,
when saying, " the Lord hath raised up an horn
for salvation for us, in the house of his servant
David." (Luke i. 69.) But when it is said, that
the Lord " will cut off the horns of the wicked, and
the horns of the righteous shall be exalted," (Ps.
lxxv. 10.) here it appears, that the expression is in
allusion to somewhat of a man's own, and not sim-
ply with an eye to Christ. Perhaps the word may
be considered as referring in general to strength.
Thus the son of "Chenaanah made him horns of
iron, and said, with these shalt thou push the Sy-
rians." (1 Kings xxii. 11.) And, indeed, the pro-
phet describes the Lord as having * horns coming
out of his hand, when before him went the pesti-
lence." (Habak. iii. 4.) Hence also we read of the
horns of the altar." (Jer. xvii. 1. Rev. ix. 13.) But
whether these had reference to any thing orna-
mental, or to objects more important, when " the
sacrifice was bound with cords even to the horns
of the altar," I cannot determine. (Ps. cxvii. 27.)
HORNET. We read of this insect as particularly
commissioned by the Lord, to punish and drive
out the enemies of Israel. In hot countries, it
may easily be conceived, how formidable a swarm
of such creatures armed with stings must become
to any people, and especially when sent, like the
flies of Egypt, in judgment by the Lord. (See
Deut. vii. 20. Josh. xxiv. 12.) But some, beside
the history of the fact itself, in the hornets the
Lord literally and truly sent to drive out before
H O
383
Israel their enemies, take the expression also in a
figurative sense, and consider hornets from the
Lord as the buzzing and stinging effects of a
guilty conscience. And these are still more for-
midable and alarming. " I will send my fear before
thee, saith the Lord.1' (Exod. xxiii. 27, 28.) And
where the Lord sends his fear, a man's own feelings
will make him flee. See Flies.
HOSANNA. The Hebrews read it Hoshiah-na.
The meaning is, " Save me, I beseech you ;" from
Jahash, to save ; and Na, I pray you. It is hardly
necessary to tell the reader, that it was with
this salutation the multitude hailed Christ, in his
public entrance into Jerusalem, five days before his
death. The prophet Zechariah had predicted of
the Messiah, that he should so come ; and none but
Christ ever did so. (Compare Zech. ix. 9. with
Matt. xxi. 1 — 11.) It was prohesied also by
David, that "prayer should be made for him con-
tinually." (Ps. Ixxv. 15.) And here we find the un-
ceasing cry Hosanna, which is a form of blessing
and prayer included ; as if they had said, " Pre-
serve, Lord, this son of David ! " And the spread-
ing of their garments in the way, and strewing
the road with branches of trees, were all figura-
tive of laying every thing at the feet of Jesus.
The feats of Tabernacles was so celebrated, to de-
note holy joy in the gathering in all the Lord's
blessings ; and some have thought, that this feast
was particularly typical of this entry of the Lord
Jesus ; for it is somewhat remarkable, that at this
feast they carried branches, which they called
Hosannas. I cannot dismiss the consideration of
this article, without subjoining one thought more, to
remark the conduct of the Jewish children upon
this occasion. For what but a divine overruling
power could have produced such an effect, that
384
H O
in the moment their fathers, and the scribes and
pharisees were moved with indignation, those little
children should join the Redeemer's train, and
mingle their infant voices in the Hosanna of the
multitude ! And the reader will not overlook in
this account, I hope, how thereby that blessed
prophecy was fulfilled, and which Jesus himself ex-
plained and applied. u Have ye never read, Out
of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise ? " (Matt. xxi. 16. Ps. viii. 2.)
HOSEA — the Prophet. His name is the same as
that of Joshua, and signifies a Saviour. He was the
son of Beevi. He is placed the first of what is called
the minor prophets ; not so called as if the writ-
ings of those holy men of old were considered less
important than others — not so — but the reason of
their being called minor prophets, was on account
of the bulk of their prophetical writings being less.
Very highly indebted hath the church been, in all
ages, for their ministry ; and believers in the pre-
sent hour, find daily cause to bless God the Holy
Ghost, for the instrumentality of those men. Hosea
began to prophecy very early in the church, pre-
haps, as some think, the first of all the prophets
whose writings have been preserved in the canon
of Scripture^ and he continued through several
reigns, as the preface in his first chapter shews.
On the subject of his marriage with Gomer, (see
Gomer) some have thought, that this was a para-
ble, and only intended by the Lord in a figurative
way, to shew the Lord's grace to his adulterous
Israel and Judah. But certainly the thing itself is
real. And wherefore should it be more improbable,
in the case of Hosea's marrying an adulteress, than
in Jeremiah's instance, and in the case of Ezekiel
also, being continued types of the doctrines they
were directed to deliver to the people.
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385
[ cannot take leave of the history of Ilosca with-
out first desiring' the reader to remark with me, what
numberless things we discover in this man's writings,
pointing to the person, offices, relation, and mi-
nistry of the Lord Jesus Christ. What grace,
mercy, love, and condescension in the Lord marry-
ing our adulterous nature ! What blessedness is set
forth in that betrothing our nature, for ever ! What
sweet views of Jesus doth this man's writings give
concerning his recoveries of his people under all
their backslidings, and departures, and rebellions,
and ingratitude ! Surely, it is impossible for any
enlightened eye to read the records of the prophet,
and not perceive the Saviour in almost every chapter
and verse, from beginning to end. And how bless-
ed was it and gracious in God the Holy Ghost, in
those distant ages from Christ, when the prophecy
of Hosea was delivered ; and how blessed and
gracious now in our day, upon whom u the ends of
the world are come that this man's ministry
should be made instrumental to comfort and refresh
both, concerning the glorious person, love, grace,
and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a
sweet proof of the constant and unceasing love
watching over and blessing the church of Jesus,
by God the Holy Ghost, (See Isa. xxvii. 3.)
There was another Hosea in the church, who
was the last king of Israel. (2 Kings xvii. 1.)
HOSHAIAH. The father of Jezaniah. His name is a
compound of Hosha and Jah, from Jasha, Saviour;
and Jah, Lord. (See Neh. xii. 32.)
HOSPITALITY. The apostles strongly recommended
this virtue to the church. " Use hospitality one to
another without grudging," saith Peter, (1 Pet.
iv. 9.) And Paul begged the Hebrews, (chap. xiii. 2.)
not to be forgetful " to entertain strangers, for
thereby, he said, some had entertained angels
vol. vi. 2 c
38C
H O
unawares;" alluding very probably, to the case of
Abraham and Lot, as related Gen. xviii. 3. and
Gen. xix. 2. And Moses commanded the same
gracious conduct, upon another account : " Love
ye the stranger, for ye were strangers in the laud of
Egypt." (Deut. x. 19.) But how infinitely higher
are the motives enforced in the consideration, that
Jesus, the heavenly stranger, came to visit us in
our ruined state, and so journeyed among us as a
wafyaring man for a little space, that we might dwell
with him for ever ! And how blessed also, on the
other hand, is the consideration, that when this di-
vine Samaritan, as a stranger, passed by, and saw
our whole nature robbed and plundered by the
great enemy of souls, he took us up, and brought
us to the inn of his church and ordinances, and
hath there commanded us to be well taken care of
until his second coming, when he will recompense
every minute act of kindness shewn us for his
sake ! Such views of Jesus enforce hospitality in-
deed, in the highest extent, and compel by a mo-
tive of the most persuasive nature. The "cup of
cold water" given in the name and for the sake of
a disciple, cannot be given unnoticed, neither pass
unrewarded. Jesus hath already left it upon re-
cord, what he will say in that day when he cometh
to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in
all that believe. u I was a stranger, and ye took
me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and
ye visited me ; 1 was in prison, and ye came unto
me." And when the conscious sense of the littleness
of services, and the unworthiness of the doer, shall
make the souls of Christ's people exclaim, " Lord,
when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ; or
naked, and clothed thee ; or when saw we thee sick,
or in prison, and came unto thee ? The Lord Jesus
will graciously explain the seeming impossibility in
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387
manifesting, before a congregated world, the one-
ness between himself and his redeemed. " Verily
I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
it unto me." (Matt. xxv. 34—40.)
HOUR and HOURS. We do not find any particular
method made use of in the Old Testament Scrip-
ture, for dividing the hours of the day in one regu-
lar plan. The Hebrews made four parts in each
day — morning, noon, the first evening, and the last
evening. And the night was again formed into
three parts — the night watch, the midnight watch,
and what was called the morning watch, to the
break of day. Hence David beautifully speaks of
the waiting of his soul on the Lord, " more than
they that watch for the morning yea, said he, re-
peating it with earnestness, K yea, I say, more than
they that watcheth for the morning." (Ps. cxxx. 6.)
The dial of Ahas is the first account we have in
Scripture of the method the Hebrews had to mark
down the progress of time ; and this it should seem,
was by marks or lines of degrees, and not of hours.
In the New Testament we find our fathers
then arrived at some method of calculating hours ;
and certainly then they did, as we do now, divide
the day into twelve hours. ' Hence Jesus said, " Are
there not twelve hours in the day?" (John xi. 9. see
also Matt. xx. 3 — 5.) But the time of reckoning
always began at six in the morning ; and the
seventh was the first hour. The reader of the
New Testament should always keep this in re-
membrance. Hence when we read, (Acts iii 1.)
that Peter and John went up together into the tem-
ple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,
that was three in what we call the afternoon ;
and, consequently, the twelfth hour was six in the
evening.
2 c 2
388
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While I am upon this subject of the Jewish hours,
I cannot forbear calling the reader's attention to
one circumstance, which I think, now in the pre-
sent day of the church, still equally interesting as it
was of old always regarded. I mean the time of
the evening sacrifice. If the reader will turn to
the first account of any appointed sacrifice, even
the lamb of the Passover, (Exod. xii. 5.) he
will find, that the whole assembly of the people
were to kill this lamb of the first year without ble-
mish in the evening, or, as the margin of the
Bible hath it, between the two evenings, that was
what we should call three o'clock in the afternoon ;
and to this precise time all the sacrifices of the
eveningcorresponded. Hence, we are told, (1 Kings
xviii. 29.) they prophesied till the evening sa-
crifice. Ezra saith, " I sat astonied until the
evening sacrifice, and at the evening sacrifice 1
arose up from my heaviness." (Ezra. ix. 4, 5.)
Hence David also prays, u Let my prayer be set
forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of
my hands as the evening sacrifice." (Ps. cxli. 2.)
And Daniel tells the church, that the man Ga-
briel touched him about "the time of the evening
oblation." (Dan. ix. 21.)
Now what I beg the reader particularly to no-
tice in all these instances, is the uniformity as to
the time of the hour ; and then let him turn his at-
tention, and look at the cross of Christ, and behold
the Lord Jesus at that very hour fulfilling the whole
in the sacrifice of himself. The Evangelists are all
particular to remark, that there was darkness over
all the earth, from the sixth hour (twelve at noon)
until the ninth hour, (three in the afternoon.) And
then it was Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave
up the ghost. Now let the reader pause, and con-
sider the subject attentively. Who was it but God
H O
389
the Holy Ghost, that caused the evening sacrifice,
from the first moment of appointed sacrifices in the
church to the glorious finishing- of all sacrifices in
the death of the Lord Jesus, thus minutely to cor-
respond ? And what a sacred hour that was all
along considered in the divine mind, when not the
sacrifice only, but the very hour of offering it was
so scrupulously regarded ! Think then reader, how
infinitely momentous must be the thing itself, when
the mere shadow of the substance was so solemnly
attended to ; when through a period of more than
fifteen hundred years the evening lamb was regu-
larly sacrificed in the very hour which, in after
ages, Christ, the Lamb of God, should offer himself
in a sacrifice to God, to take away the sins of the
world !
Lord, I would say, for myself and reader, cause
this hour of the afternoon, which was so sacred in
the Jewish church, to be sacred to my soul also ;
and wherever I am, or however engaged, at the
sounding bell at three in the afternoon, call my for-
getful wandering thoughts to the hill of Calvary.
Let me as often as the circumstances of my poor,
empty, and unsatisfying life will allow, by faith, do
as Peter and John did, indeed, go up to the Lord's
house at the hour of prayer, the three o'clock
hour ; and there may my soul meet the Lord of
Peter and John, and like the cripple healed in
Christ's name at the gate of the temple, may my
feet and ancle bones receive strength in the name
of Jesus; and while the Lord himself takes me
by the hand, may I, as he did, leap up and stand,
and with Jesus enter into his temple walking, and
leaping, and praising God. (Acts iii. 1 — 26.)
HOUSE. The word house, in Scripture, means some-
what more than the mere residence of a family ;
indeedj it hath vane us significations. Heave11 is
390
H O
called the house of God, "an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens." The grave is call-
ed " the house appointed for all living." (Job xxx.
23.) The church is called " the house of the living
God." Ye also, saith Peter, speaking to the faith-
ful, "are built up a spiritual house." (1 Pet. ii. 5.
Heb. hi. 6.) But in a more general way, a family
is called an house, such as the house of the Re-
chabites, (Jer. xxxv. 2.) the house of David, (Zech.
xiii. 1.) But amidst all these, and more to the like
import, that undoubtedly is the highest and the best
sense of the word which considers the Lord Jesus
Christ himself as the High Priest and Head of his
body the church, and the bodies of his people the
temple of his indwelling residence by his Spirit.
And the conscious sense of his presence, in uphold-
ing, acting upon, comforting, refreshing, stength-
ening, and witnessing to the soul, and for the Lord
in the soul, these are among the most blessed evi-
dences in the enjoyment of the household of faith.
Here, in the fullest sense of the expression, the
church, and every individual believer forming a
part in that church, may and is called the house
of the living God. uLo! T come, said Jehovah, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee ;" (Zech. ii. 11.) and
this scriptural sense of the word may serve to shew
why it was the patriarchs, and holy men of old,
were so anxious concerning their households and
families. Thus the faithful Abraham, after that
the Lord had revealed himself unto him in vision,
and said, K Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield,
and thine exceeding great reward ;" the patriarch
felt a boldness to ask of God concerning his house-
hold. Abram said, "Lord God! what wilt thou
give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of
my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?" (Gen. xv.
1', 2.) meaning, that he was not born of his bowels,
h u m
but Damascus born, probably a black. Now as it is
well known, that every black slave when freed
by his master, was always after known by the name
of the child , of the house, (for so the phrase stew-
ard of my house means,) it is likely, that Abram
felt some jealousy concerning this freed slave
being- his heir. And the very name Eliezer was
not a little in countenancing- this idea, which sig-
nified the help of my God. But I leave the reader
to his own views of this subject, only remarking
farther, that theLord's gracious answer concerning
Isaac seems a confirmation, that it was in this, or
some such like sense, the house or family was re-
garded. See Gen. xv. 4 — 6.
HUKKOK. A city in the tribe of Asher. (Josh. xix. 34.
probably Chakak, so called, meaning statutes, writ-
ings.
HUL or CHUL. The son of Abram. (Gen. x. 23.)
The name means infirmity.
HULDAH. The prophetess, the wife of Shallum.
Her name is the same as the Hebrew name for the
world. Josiah consulted her on account of the book
found in the house of the Lord. (2 Kings xxii. 14.)
We cannot sufficiently admire the firmness of this
woman, in the answer she returned to king Josiah.
Tell the man that sent 3 ou, thus saith the Lord,
" Behold, I will bring evil upon this place ; but
because thine heart was tender, and thou hast hum-
bled thyself before the Lord, thine eyes shall not
see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."
It is a blessed thing to be found faithful both to God
and man !
HUMTAH. This was a city of Judah. (Josh. xv. 54.)
Humtah is the Hebrew word for snail.
HUNTING. One of the old Lexicons for the Bible
speaks of hunting as the apprenticeship of war;
and certain it is, that the transition from hunting
3i)2
H U
beasts is easily made to that of hunting men. it
seems to be no unfair inference, that he who can
lake pleasure in tearing poor timid hares to pieces by
dogs, would notmeltintoteprs in beholding men torn
to pieces by horses. Nimrod is the first hunter we
read of in.liistory, and of him it is said to a proverb, that
he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (Gen. x. 9.)
And as the beginning of his kingdom was Babel
and Erech, and other places, it is very probable,
that he was a mighty conqueror also of men. It is
worthy remark, that when the Lord speaks of send-
ing a scourge upon the earth, he speaks of his in-
strument to punish under the character of hunters.
(Jer. xvi. 16.) And it is still worthy of farther
remark, that at a time when the Lord delivered
David from his enemies, he describes the deliver-
ance under the name of "the snare of the fowler."
(Ps. xci. 3.)
HUR. He that went up w ith Moses and Aaron to
the Mount when Amalek fought with Israel. (Exod.
xvii, 10.) His name signifies a cavern, from Chur.
HUSBAND. I should not have made the pause of
a moment over this word, neither have deemed it
necessary to have said aught by way of explaining
a name so familar, had it not been for the special
relationship of this character, when considered in
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. But looking
up to him as the Husband of his people, in the union
of our nature, it becomes a most interesting subject,
and demands the clearest apprehension bv every
true believer in Christ. Now the Scriptures with
one voice concur in the relation of the fact itself.
u Thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is
his name ; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One ol
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be
called.'' (Isa. liv. 5.) And to the same amount do
all the Scriptures declare. (See Jer. iii. 14. Hot-,
ii. 19, 20.) And the New Testament writers ollow
H V
393
bp the same blessed doctrine, telling us, that Christ
■ took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham." (Heb. ii. 16.) Indeed
as the Surety and Sponsor of his church and people,
it became essentially necessary that he should take
our nature, u and be in all things like to his brethren,
sin only excepted." Agreeably to all this, as set-
tled in the council of peace before all worlds, he
stood up as the covenant-head and husband of his
people. As the husband of his church he under-
took to pay all our debts to God which by sin we
had incurred; he engaged to disannul all our former
contracts, and to divorce our poor hearts, which
sin, SataB, and the world had captivated, and by
his Holy Spirit to win over our affections, and make
us willing in the day of his power. He engaged
both for our debt and for our duty, and promised,
as the husband of his church, that he would beat
down all our foes before our face, and at length
bring his bride home to " the marriage-supper of
the Lamb in heaven."
These were among the obligations into which the
Son of God put himself, when at the call of his Fa-
ther he came forth the bridegroom of his church.
And when the fulness of time was come, Jesus
came, full of grace and truth, and in his holy gos-
pel proclaimed the wonderful proposal, that the
Son of God desired to woo our nature and unite it
to himself, in grace here, and glory hereafter.
He sent all his servants also with his royal decree,
that God the Father had made a marriage for his
Son, and now expected that the bride should make
herself ready. A thousand, and ten thousand love
tokens, the Lord Jesus accompanied his offer of
marriage with to his spouse the church. And
when, at any time, in a single instance, he hath by
his Holy Spirit espoused and united a soul to him-
394
H A
self, he gives a dower, and an interest in all that
belongs to him; and after continued manifestation of
his unalterable love and affection to his fair one, made
fair in his comliness, he at a length brings home,
to his house in heaven, his bride, where she lives
with him for ever. Happy and blessed is it, in any
and in every single instance, when the church can
look up to Jesus and call him Husband, and say as
of old : u This is my beloved, and this is my
friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem ! " (Song v. 16.)
HUSHAI. The Archite, David's friend, (2 Sam.
xvi. 16.) The name signifies one hastening, from
Chush.
HYMN. It is somewhat remarkable, that the
Hebrews have no peculiar or specific name for an
hymn. A Canticle, or Song, or Psalm, they have
words for. Perhaps those which are called Hal-
lah might mean as much, for the Hallelu-Jah of
David's psalms imply as much.
HYPOCRITE. The general acceptation of this
word, and the character of the person under the
influence of hypocrisy, is not well understood. We
perfectly well apprehend, that an hypocrite, and
especially in religion, means one that wishes to be
thought what he is not, and takes pains to impose
upon others a seeming sanctity of character, which,
in fact, his heart is a stranger to. This is the
supposed meaning of an hypocrite, and this, as far
as it goes, is right ; but this is not all. For the
full and complete description of the character is,
when he imposeth upon himself also : this is the
finishing of the term hypocrisy. And very awful
is it to say, that the deception is but too possible.
Our Lord's expression is solemn to this amount.
(Luke xii. 1, 2.) u Beware ye of the leaven of the
pharisees, which is hypocrisy : for there is nothing
covered, that shall not be revealed ; neither hid, that
J A 395
shall not be known." Hen^e that most interesting-
desire of the soul as expressed by David, " cleanse
thou me from secret faults." (Ps. xix. 12.)
HYSSOP. From Esob, an herb. The Lord point-
ed to the use of this shrub for sprinkling- at the
Passover. (Exod. xii. 22.) The shrub itself is a
very humble, not to say uninviting plant ; like him
to outward appearance " who had no beauty that
we should desire him ; " but like him, the fra-
grancy of it is sweet, though mingled with bitter.
Christ and his cross are two that cannot be sepa-
rated, but must be received together. Reader !
depend upon it, both are blessed guests worth
receiving ; and however painful to flesh and blood
the cross may be, yet, like the waters of Marah to
Israel, Jesus's presence sweetens and sanctifies.
I.
I IS but a letter, yet as expressive of person is as im-
portant a one as can be, and when used with pecu-
liar and special respect to Jehovah, and spoken by
himself, is infinitely dignified indeed. Jehovah in
his threefold character of person graciously pro-
claims himself in his holy word by it, and in many
instances repeats it both in identifying his person
and being, and to express the glorious, incom-
municable, and distinguishing nature of his ex-
istence. u I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me
there is no Saviour." (Isa. xliii. 11.) So again, (Deut.
xxxii. 39.) " See now that I, even I, am he, and
there is no God with me : I kill, and I make alive,
I wound, and I heal ; neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand." And this distinguishing
feature in identifying Jehovah, is equally made use
of by all the persons of the Godhead. See
396
(Exod. iii. 14. with John viii. 58. Mark xiv. 62. See
also in reference to the identity of God the Holy
Ghost, Acts x. 19; xiii. 2. 4.) In a subordinate
sense, and byway of distinguishing both persons and
things, all the creatures of God may be supposed to
speak. Thus Moses, speaking of himself, saith,
u Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoah, and that
I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt ?" (Exod. iii. 11.) And thus inferior creatures,
(Num. xxiii. 30.) yea, even inanimate things, (Judg.
ix. 9. 11. 13.)
JAAKAN. This is spoken of in Israel's journey when
they went from Beeroth. (Deut. x. 6.) If it be a
place, perhaps it was so called from the meaning
of the word Canan, rest ; otherwise, if referring to
the children of Jaakon, we might have expected
the name would have been Bene Jaakan, the sons
of Jaakan.
JA AZIN1 AH. We meet with this name several times
in the Bible, (2 Kings xxv. 23. Jer. xxxv. 3. Ezek.
viii. 11. and xi. 1.) The name itself is a compound
of Jazen and Jah, the Lord will hear.
J ARAL and JUBAL. The sons of Lamech and Adah.
(See Gen. xx. 21.) The former was the father of
those who lodge in tents, and the latter of those
who handle the pipe or organ ; by which is meant,
that these men were the first inventors of those
things. The name of both is one and the same,
meaning, like the Jobel or trumpet, somewhat
that like sound glides away, and is lost in the air.
JABESH GILEAD. A city beyond Jordan, in the
half tribe of Manasseh. (1 Sam. xi. 1.)
JAB1N. King of Caanan. A mighty oppressor of
Israel, (Judg. iv. 2, 3.) His name signifies to
understand, from Binah.
JABBOCK. A brook on the other side Jordan,
rendered memorable from being near the spot
397
where Jacob wrestled with the angel, (Gen. xxxii.
22 — 24.) The name signifies to make empty.
JACHIN. The name of a pillar in Solomon's temple.
See Boaz.
JACOB. The ever-memorable name of the ever-
memorable person, concerning whom it hath
pleased God the Holy Ghost to say so much
throughout the whole Scripture. His name signifies
a supplantcr ; but after the memorable scene -at
Jabbock, when Jacob wrestled with the angel and
pevailed, the Lord himself changed his name to
Tsrael, a prince. (See Gen. xxxii. 27, 28.) For his
history I refer to the book of Genesis, from Gen.
xxv. to the end.
JAEL. The wife of Heber the Kenite. Her name is a
compound of Jah and El. Her history is but short,
yet truly blessed. We have it Judg. iv. 17 to the
end. And the Holy Ghost hath recorded her heroic
act of faith, Judg. v. 24 — 27. Some have wantonly
traduced the character of Jael, and charged
her with a breach of hospitality in slaughtering one
who fled to her for protection, and especially as
she had taken Siserainto her haram. And it hath
been farther said, that the refreshment Jael gave
him was, according to the custom of eastern na-
tions, a pledge of friendship. But to both of these
1 answer, it becomes no breach of hospitality to
destroy the known foes of God. Besides, Sisera
asked for refreshment, and requested her to tell
a lie. It was not Jael's offer, neither did she give
him a promise of security. The tyranny of this man,
and zeal for God's glory and his people's safety,
prompted her generous mind to deliver Israel from
his oppression. Add to these, the Lord's hand must
have been in this transaction, as Deborah the pro-
phetess foretold the event, Judg. iv. 9. But let
men say what t ey may, God the Holy Ghost hath
398
honoured her memory for ever, and declared it
blessed. And I cannot but conclude, that she is
one of those worthies, of whom the Holy Ghost
hath again spoken so honourably in the New Testa-
ment, "who through faith subdued kingdoms." &c.
(Heb. xi. 33.)
J AH. One of the glorious incommunicable names of
Jehovah. We find it joined with many Hebrew
names in the Scripture. The grand Anthem hymn
is called Hallel-Jah, praise the Lord, which we
pronounce Hallelujah. So again, when speaking of
Jehovah in his covenant-relation in Christ, we say
Adon Jah, or Adoni, my Adoni Jah. And hence
the Hebrews were so fond of calling their chil-
dren by some name that took in and comprehended
somewhat of this name. Thus Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Zephaniah, Zechariah, &c. See Jehovah.
JAMES. One of the apostles of Christ. There were
two of this name, and both apostles ; one the son
of Salome, the other of Mary. Hence by way of
distinction, they are called James the Elder, and
James the Less. The former was the brother of
John, (Matt. iv. 21.) the latter is called by Paul the
Lord's brother, (Gal. i. 19.) not so in reality, as we
now mean by the term brother,but as the custom then
was, from tribes and families, Mary, James's mo-
ther, was sister to the blessed Virgin. James the
Elder was the son of Zebedee ; James the Less
the son of Alpheus, (Matt. x. 2, 3.) The former was
killed by Herod, (Acts xii. 1) ; the latter we have
no scriptural relation of his death. It is to this
man, under God the Holy Ghost, that we are in-
debted forthatgraciousEpistle whichbearshisname.
JANNES and JAMBRES. There is but once men-
tion made of these persons in holy writ, namely,
(2 Tim. iii. 8.) and the apostle when recording their
names gives this short but awful history of their
characters — they withstood Moses. Some have
supposed, that they were the magicians who for a
while confronted Moses, when, at the command
and in the name of the Lord, he wrought miracles
before Pharaoh and his court. But if it be so, certain
it is, the Holy Ghost thought it not of importance
to tell the church, or it would have been noticed.
The most important circumstance to the believer
to remark is, that the magicians were permitted to
resemble somewhat of what Moses wrought to a
certain point purposely, that when this permission
was withdrawn, they might the more readilv be com-
pelled to see and acknowledge the finger of the
Lord. This they did; and thereby became the
unwilling- witnesses for God, and to their own con-
fusion. Oh, that the opposers of God s truth and
God's Christ, in all ages, would tremble in the re-
collection of James and Jambres !
JAPHETH. The son of Noah; not, as some have
supposed, the younger of his sons, because placed
last, (see Gen. ix. 18, 19. x for Moses expressly
calls Ham the younger. (Gen. ix. 24. Theprophecy
of his father Noah concerning Japheth is very strik-
ing : H God shall enlarge Japheth. and shall dwell
in the tents of Shem.r , Gen. ix. 27.) Yes ! it is
none but God that can enlarge or persuade. And
as from Shem, after the flesh, sprung Christ; so
Japheth. who is supposed to be the lather of the
Gentiles, and as such, in this prophecy, may be
supposed to represent the whole body of the Gen-
tile church given to the Lord Jesus Christ, could
onlv be brought into Christ's fold bv Christ's power.
(See Tsa. xlix. 6. Ps. ex. 3.)
JAPHIA. There was a city of this name, ^Josh. xix. 12.)
and there was a king of this name, Japhia king of
Lachish, ^Josh. x. 3.) And David had a sun named
Japhia. (2 Sam. v. 15.^ The name perhaps is de-
rived from Japha, to enlighten.
400
JARMUTH or JARAMOTH. This wag one of the
cities of Judah, which lay in the way to Jerusalem.
Joshua, in his battles, killed the king of Jarrauth.
(Josh. x. 5.)
ICH ABOD. This name was given by a dying mother,
in the moment of her departure, to her new-born-son.
The sense is, " the glory is departed, or alas ! the
glory; from Kabod, glory. (1 Sam. iv. 19. &c;
What a solemn question ariseth out of the subject —
On how many places may the word Ichabod be
written ?
1 CON1UM. A place rendered memorable from Paul's
preaching. (See Acts xiii. and xiv.)
IDOL and IDOLATRY. These things have been ge-
nerally confined to the idea of the worshipping of
creatures or images, but, in fact, may be properly
applied to every thing which men set up in their
hearts to regard, and which tend to the lessening
their reverence for the Lord. (Exod. xx. 3, 4.
Ezek. xiv. 1. 5.)
JEBUS. See Jerusalem.
JEDIDIAH. The name the Lord gave to Solomon ;
meaning beloved of the Lord. (2 Sam. xii. 24, 25.)
JEGAR SAHADUTHA. The heap of witness ; so
rendered in the margins of our Bibles. (See Gen.
xxxi. 47. to the end.) Jacob called it Galeed
and Mizpah ; as if he had said, let the Galeed be
Avitness, and this Mizpah be witness. There is
something very tender and interesting in this part-
ing of natural ties never to meet again. Such
will be the everlasting separation in every instance
of nature, where our affinities are not new-formed
in grace.
JEHOAHAZ. There are two sons of kings of this
name in Scripture — Jehoahaz, son of Jehu. (2Kings
xiii. 1.) and Jehoahaz, or Shallum, son of Josiah,
king of Judah, (Jer. xxii. 11.) The name is a com-
401
pound, signifying, from Achaz, a possession of the
Lord.
JEHOIACHIN. The son of Jehoiachi.n. This is
the man whom the prophet had it in commission
from the Lord to write childless. (Jer. xxii. 21. to
the end.) His name is also a compound, signifying
from the root to prepare, that the Lord would pre-
pare. But how seldom do we find, notwithstanding
the striking names given by the Hebrews to their
children, that they answered to them. In what
sense Jehoiachin was written childless, I cannot
determine ; somewhat different from natural things
it must have been, for certain it is, that he had
several sons. (See 1 Chron. iii. 17, 18.) But what
the sentence referred to besides, I know not. I
should have thought it had respect to the promised
seed, and that the writing this man childless might
have been in other words to say, the Messiah shall
not be in his family. For this was the great desire
of all the tribes of Israel ; and for the accomplish-
ment of which they all earnestly longed for a nume-
rous progeny of children. But this was so far
from being the case, that in the generations of the
Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh, we find his son
Salathiel enumerated. (See Matt. i. 12.) Some
have thought, that the expression childless meant
in relation to his kingdom, that he should have no
successor in his family among his children to sit
upon the throne. And if this be the meaning, it
was literally fulfilled; for Salathiel was born in
Babylon, and so was his son Zorobabel. (See Matt,
i. 13.) But here I leave the subject.
JEHORAM. Son of Jehoshaphat. (2 Kings iii. 2, 3.)
The meaning of the name is, exaltation of the Lord ;
from Ram, exaltation ; and Jah, the Lord.
JEHOSHAPHAT. Kingof Judah. (1 Kings, xxii. 42.)
His name meaueth, the Lordjudgeth; from She-
VOL. VI. 2 D
402 J E
phat, to judge ; and Jah, the Lord. There trs&a
valley of this name, but it is undetermined where
situated. Some have thought, near the mount of
Olives. (See Joel in. 2. 12.)
JEHOVAH. The glorious incommunicable name of
the I AM THAT I AM. In addition to what was
offered under the article God, (which see) I would
beg to observe, that this ineffable and mysterious
name belongs to each glorious person of the God-
head, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and is used in
common by each and by all. It implies every per-
fection of the divine nature, in the eternity, immen-
sity, sovereignty, omnipotency, invisibility, &c. of
the Lord. We find it sometimes joined with certain
leading characters of the Godhead, all descriptive
of the divine glory, as for example :
JEHOVAH JIREH. The margin of our Bible ren-
ders it very properly, u the Lord will see or pro-
vide." (Gen. xxii. 14.) And the general accepta-
tion of the words in the esteem of believers is,
that the Lord will do by all of that character as he
did by Abraham, and in every critical moment
manifest his grace towards them, in proof that he
doth both see and provide for them. This is cer-
tainly one sense of the titles, and a blessed one it
is : but this is not all. Abraham saith, u to this
day in the mount of the Lord shall it be seen ;"
by which it appears, that the mount of the Lord
was to be the place where this provision and sight
of Jehovah was to be seen. Surely there was a
prophecy in these words relating to the very spot
of Abraham's mercy, as well as the mercy itself.
And was not this with an eye to the Lamb of God,
in after-ages to be provided for the whole church,
as well as the ram the Lord had then provided
for Abraham's burnt offering ? Recollect that
this mount Moriah was near the spot, if not the
403
very spot itself, afterwards called mount Calvary.
And as Abraham's offering was wholly typical,
surely nothing could be more suited to the- ex-
pression in calling- the place Jehovah Jireh. As if
Abraham had said, Here shall be one day seen
the wonders of redemption ! Here God will,
indeed, provide himself a lamb for a burnt offer-
ing !
JEHOVAH NISSI. (Exod. xvii. 15.) The margin
of our Bible renders it, u This is the Lord my
banner." There is somewhat uncommonly beauti-
ful and striking in this blessed name of our
covenant God in Christ. No doubt, Christ him-
self is his people's banner ; for so the Lord des-
cribed him, (Isa. xiii. 2.) and as a leader and
commander to the people. (Isa. lv. 4.) Now in
every point of view this is most blessed ; for as a
banner displayed is a signal of war, so when the
believer takes Christ for his banner, he declares
war with sin, death, hell, and the grave, and takes
to him the whole armour of God ; moreover, he
fights in sure and certain hope of victory, because
Jesus hath already gotten to himself the victory,
and his own arm hath brought to him salvation.
So that when Jehovah Nissi is the banner under
which we fight, we are u more than conquerors
through him that loveth us." Never may I go
forth against the Amaleks of the present day,
without Jehovah Nissi as my banner ; but with
him, and under him, wage an everlasting war
against the enemies of God and his Christ.
JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. The mar-
gin of our Bible hath preserved the original
Hebrew, Jehovah Tzidkenu, in both places where
we meet with this glorious name of the Lord
Jesus, (Jer. xxiii. 6 ; xxxiii. 16.) and a most
blessed arid soul-comforting name it .is for the
2 p 2
404
present andeverlasting joy of a poor sinner, conscious
that in himself he is void of all righteousness. For
doth any one ask the question — Wherefore we call
Jesus Jehovah? The answer is direct ; Jesns is not
only Jehovah by reason of his own personal God-
hkad, but Jehovah the Father hath commanded
his people to call him and to know him by that
name. And if it be farther asked — Wherefore
do you call him \our righteousness? The answer
is, Because he is so, and is the very righteous-
ness in which all his people become justified
before God ; and in confirmation of it Jehovah
hath commanded the people so to call him, and
so to apprehend and know him. And reader, do
but attend to the several blessed causes by which
it is confirmed and assured to the heart and
conscience, and very fully will it appear to you,
In all its glory, if so be God the Holy Ghost be
your teacher. That Jesus is Jehovah in common
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the whole
Bible confirms. (See in proof if but a single
passage, Isa. xlv. 22 — 25.) And that he is our
righteousness, the Holy Ghost hath asserted in
numberless places of his blessed word. (See but
two passages among many that might be brought
forward, 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor. v. 21.)
But what I more particularly beg the reader to
observe with me on this glorious name of our Re-
deemer, is, that Jehovah Jesus our righteousness is
the very righteousness of his people. Let the reader
remember that Jesus is not said to be a righteous
person, but righteousness itself. Angels may be,
and sometimes are, called righteous, and so are the
servants of God; but none of them can be called
righteousness. This belongs only to God our Sa-
viour : all other righteousness is derived, and is
from him ; but the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
405
is essentially and necessarily his own. He Is righte-
ousness itself; and his Godhead both proves his
righteo :sness, and his righteousness demonstrates
his Godhead. Tbis is oue sweet feature of this
name of our Lord ; and there is another included
in it, namely, that this righteousness is ours. For
by virtue of union and oneness with him, all that he
is as the Head of his body the church, he is for and
in his people. Hence he is said to have been made
sin for them when he knew no sin, that they might be
made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Cor. v. 21.
"And he is made of God to them wisdom and righte-
ousness,sane. ification and redemption." 1 Cor.i.30.)
And what crowns the whole is, that Christ and his
righteousness being so forever, so must his people
be in him. His person being infinite, so must be
his righteousness ; and therefore, he is said to have
saved his people with an everlasting righteousness,
by reason of which they shall not be ashamed nor
confounded, world without end. "Well miofht the
Holy Ghost command the church to exclaim, - Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and
strength." (Isa. xlv. 24/ I would only add, as a
farther confirmation of the interest the church
hath in Christ and the oneness there is between
them, the church also is called the Lord our righ-
teousness, because her glorious Husband is so ;
thus proving her marriage by taking the name of
her husband. See Jer. sxxiii. 16.) Oh, the
blessedness in that one title, Jehovah our righte-
ousness !
JEHOVAH SHALOM. The margin of the Bible ren-
ders this title of a covenant God, "The Lord send
peace . r It was ascribed to the Lord by Gideon, iu the
prospect of conquering Midian. Judi:. vi.24.) It
proved so then, and it has proved so in numberless
instances ever since. But seen with an eve to Christ.
406
it is eminently blessed ; here, indeed, Jehovah, in the
covenant of peace founded in Christ before all
worlds, may, and must be called, in the strongest
emphasis, Jehovah Shalom.
JEHOVAH SHAMMAH. "The Lord is there."
Such is the name of the church in consequence of
the presence of her glorious husband. (See Ezek.
xlviii. 35.) The prophet is speaking by the Spirit
of prophecy, and looking into the days of the gos-
pel ; so that here is a mark to know the church by
now, and which will be the character of Christ's
church for ever. Without the Lord's presence
there is no church: unless he be in the midst of us,
we may go lean all our days. Lord ! write Jehovah
Shammah in our churches, in our hearts, in our
houses, in our families !
JEHU. A well-known king in Israel, raised up in
this office to punish the house of Ahab. His name
is emphatical, signifiing, himself: from the pro-
noun Hua, and this also seems to be from Havah,
to be. (See 2 Kings ix. 1. to the end. See also
1 Kings xix. 15—18.)
It is a remarkable feature concerning Jehu, that
the appointment of Jehu, and his becoming king,
occupied a period of more than twenty- two years ;
which will be seen by comparing the dates of those
two Scriptures. There was another Jehu a prophet,
the son of Hanani, who flourished in the reign of
Baasha king of Israel. (See 1 Kings xv. 1. 7. See
also 2 Chron. xix. 1 — 3.) It should seem, that
this Jehu, was a faithful servant of the Lord, in
thus reproving both the kings of Judah and Israel.
In the second chapter of the Second Book of Chro-
nicles, thirty-fourth verse, it is said, that this pro-
phet wrote the records of Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah. There are two other Jehus mentioned in
Scripture, Jehu the fourth son of Rehoboam, king
407
of Judah, (2 Chron. xi. 19.) and Jehu the son of
Obed. (1 Chron. ii. 38.)
JEHUDI. The servant of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
(Jer. xxxvi, 14.) His name signifies, the Lord is
my praise.
JEHUD1JAH. The wife of Ezra. (See 1 Chron.
iv. 18.) The name is very striking in the Jah twice —
to the praise of the Lord.
JEMIMA. One of Job's daughters. (Job xlii. 14.)
The meaning of the name implies, beautiful as
the day.
JEPHTHA. One of the judges who judged Israel.
(See Judges xi. 1. to the end.) His name signi-
fies, one that will open. The vow of Jephtha
concerning his daughter, hath exercised the learn-
ing of the studious in all ages of the church.
Some have decidedly been of opinion, that Jephtha
did actually sacrifice his daughter ; and others
have as flatly denied it. The Chaldee Paraphrase,
St. Ambrose, and St. Chrisostom, were of the
former opinion ; but by far the greater part of
the old commentators, as well as modern ones, are
in the latter judgment. I shall beg to offer an
observation or two upon the subject, and then
leave the reader, under grace, to think for himself
on this point.
The first thing I beg to observe, is concerning
the character of Jephtha. The Holy Ghost, by
his servant Paul, hath recorded his name among
those worthies who " by faith subdued kingdoms,
and wrought righteousness." (Heb. xi. 32.) And
in the first account of Jephtha's valour we are
told, that the u Spirit of the Lord came upon Jeph-
tha." (Judg. xi. 29.) Hence, therefore, we may
safely conclude, that he was a child of God.
The next thing to be observed in his history,
is that the vow he made was a solemn engage-
408
mcnt between the Lord and his own soul. It was
personal ; it was himself concerned only to fulfil
it ; neither could it be supposed to imply, the dis-
posing- of what was not his to dispose of. * All
souls are mine, (saith Jehovah,) as the soul of the
father, so also the soul of the son is mine."
(Ezek. xviii. 4.) It could not be, therefore, im-
plied in Jephtha's vow, that he would engage to
offer to the Lord what was not his own. The
disposal of his daughter's person in marriage was,
indeed, a parent's right, and frequently done ; but
this right never extended to the offering a child in
sacrifice.
Thirdly, Human sacrifices were prohibited by
the law, neither would the priest have offered
the daughter of Jephtha ; so that, unless it be
supposed, that Jephtha invaded the priestly office,
and offered his daughter himself, there should
seem even hence to have arisen a great difficulty
to the belief, that the daughter of Jephtha was
really sacrificed.
Add to these considerations, it is well known,
that the law had made provision for the redemption
of persons by purchase. Thus the Lord enjoined,
(Lev. xxvii. 1, &c.) " And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, When a man shall make a sin-
gular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by
thy estimation. A male from twenty years to
sixty, shall be fifty shekels of silver ; and if it be
a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty
shekels.1' Hence, therefore, here was at once a
provision, and made by the Lord himself, to pre-
vent every human sacrifice by redemption.
Let us suppose, that instead of Jephtha's
daughter, some unclean bird or beast, forbidden
by the law in sacrifice, had come forth to meet
409
him — what would he have done in this case ?
Surely, he could not have offered it : then must
it have been destroyed, since it could not have
been consecrated to the Lord. The expression
in Jephtha's vow, according- to some readers of
the Bible, seems to have made a provision for this
uncertainty, what or whom he should first meet.
H And Jephtha vowed a vow unto the Lord, and
said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children
of Ammon into mine hand, then it shall be, that
whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my
house to meet me, when 1 return in peace from
the children of Ammon, shall surely be the
Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."
(Judges xi. 30, 31.) In the margin of the Bible
it is rendered, or I will offer it up ; that is cer-
tainly by redemption, according to the law concern-
ing redemptions. And it may be farther asked, Is
not the expression in the vow, " shall surely be the
Lord's," similar to that of Hannah's, in dedicating
the child she asked of God in prayer. (1 Sam. i. 1 1.)
" And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of
hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of
thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget
thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid
a man child, then will I give him unto the Lord
all the days of his life. And when she had
weaned him, she brought him into the house of the
Lord in Shiloh, and brought the child to Eli .: and
she said, For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath
given me my petition ; therefore also I have lent
him to the Lord : as long as he liveth he shall
be lent unto the Lord." (See 1 Sam. i. 11. to the
end.)
These are amongst the reasons wherefore it
seems probable, that Jephtha's daughter was not
offered in sacrifice. It hath been said, however,
410
by those who suppose she was, that the distress
of the father in meeting her at his return home,
the expression he made use of, and the request
she made him of a given space to be allowed
her for lamentation, and his doing with her
according to his vow after that time was expired,
are proofs in point. But to these suggestions it
might be said, that supposing the former opinions
right, and that she was not offered in sacrifice, it
becomes very easy to explain both her lamenta-
tions on the mountains, and the daughters of Israel
going to lament yearly on the occasion. For it is
one of the most notorious truths, that among the
Hebrews no lamentations was equal to that of
being doomed to a single unmarried state. For
every daughter of Israel had an eye to the pro-
mised seed the Messiah ; to be devoted, therefore,
to an unmarried life totally precluded that hope ;
and the daughters of Israel going yearly to lament
the daughter of Jephtha being so, is a proof of
it. Besides, where did they go ? It should seem,
to visit the daughter of Jephtha, for the margin
of the Bible renders it, that the daughters of Israel
went yearly " to talk with her : " that is, in her
nunnery. (See Judges xi. 34 — 40.) But having
now stated all I think necessary to state on the
subject, I leave the reader to his own opinion,
taught, as I pray he may be, by the grace of God,
only adding one short observation : how blessed
is the condition of God's Israel now, freed from
vows and sacrifices, while looking to, and wholly
depending upon that glorious, all-sufficient, all
effectual offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all, " whereby he has perfected for ever them
that are sanctified." (Heb. x. 14.)
JEPHUNNEH. The father of Caleb. (Num. xiii. 6.)
His name means one that beholds — from Phanah,
to behold.
411
JERAH. The son of Joktan. (Gen. x. 26.) His
name is borrowed perhaps from Jerah, the moon.
JERAHMEEL. The son of Kish. (1 Chron. xxiv. 29.)
His name is a compound of Rachaiu, mercy ; El,
God. There were others of this name. (See
1 Chron. ii. 25, &c. Jer. xxxvi. 26. And there
was a prince so called. 1 Sam. xxvii. 10. 1 Sam.
xxx. 29.)
JEREMIAH. The mournful prophet so called. - A
man famous in his day and generation as the
Lord's servant, and his memory ever blessed in
the church through all ages. His name, it should
seem, is a compound — from Ram, exaltation ; and
Jah, the Lord. The pronoun prefixed makes it,
"my exalted in the Lord." And exalted indeed
he was in the Lord's strength, though continually
buffeted and ill-treated by men. It is blessed to
read his prophecy, and under the Holy Ghost's
teachings to enter into the spirit of this man's
writings.
I beg the reader to behold, with suited atten-
tion, the account given of him in the first chapter.
We find him ordained to the ministry before his
birth. And who that reads this account of the
servant, but must be struck with full conviction of
what is said of his Master, called from the womb
of eternity, and set up from everlasting to be
Jehovah's servant, to bring Jacob again to him.
(See Isa. xlix. throughout, and Prov. viii. 12. to the
end.) What a decided proof and conviction by the
way doth this afford, that if Jeremiah was ordained
a prophet to the church before he was formed in
the belly, surely the glorious Head of that church,
and that church in him, was set up, and Christ in
all his offices and characters ordained the Lord
God of the prophets before all worlds. (Col. i.
15 — 18.) It should seem from the date of the
412
prophet's commission, when the word of the Lord
first came to him, namely, in the thirtieth year of
Josiah's reign, that Jeremiah could not be above
fourteen years of age when he preached his first
sermon. And what a sermon it is ! (See chap. ii.
iii. and iv. &c.) But what may not a child preach
when God the Holy Ghost hath ordained him? Oh,
that more of that blessed voice was heard in this
our day, which was heard by the church in Paul's
day ! (See Acts xiii. 1 — 4.) It was the lot of
Jeremiah to live in an age when the nation was
given up to daring impiety, and rebellion against
God. Faithfulness at such a time, could not fail
of bringing upon the poor preacher the hatred
and indignation of all of a contrary way of think-
ing to himself. We have the relation of the per-
secution frequently raised against him, in several
parts of his writings. The opposition made to
him by the false prophet Hananiah, and the sequel
of that awful event is recorded at large, chap,
xxviii. (See Hananiah.) Blessed is the memory
of Jeremiah, and will be in the churches to the
latest generation. The Lord ordain many such,
if it be his holy will, from the womb ! There
are several of this name in Scripture. (See 2 Kings
xxiv. 18. See also 1 Chron. v. 24. Two of the
name of Jeremiah in David's army. 1 Chron. xii.
4. 10. 13.)
JERICHO. The name means, his moon — from
Jareac. This is the famous city before whose walls the
Lord manifested such a maracle of grace to Israel,
in causing them to fall to the ground at the blasting
of the rams' horns. (See Josh, vi.) It was situated
about seven leagues from Jerusalem, and about
two from the river Jordan, (Josh, xviii. 20. 21.) and
was called by Moses the citv of palm trees ; and,
no doubt, in point of pleasantness, must have been
413
a lovely place. (See Deut. xxxiv. 3.) But we find,
in the after days of Israel's history, the barrenness
of Jericho spoken of, (2 Kings ii. 18 — 22.) See
Elisha. There is somewhat particularly striking
concerning Jericho being cursed by Joshua before
the Lord, and yet thatRahab the harlot should be
of this city, concerning whom such blessed things
are spoken of in Scripture. (See on the one
hand, Josh. vi. 26. compared with 1 Kings xvi.
34; and on the other, see Josh. ii. with Heb. xi.
31.) If the reader will be at the trouble to count the
period between Joshua's curse on Jericho, and the
rebuilding'of Jericho by Hiel the Bethelite, he will
find that near five hundred and thirty-seven years
had passed between the one and the other. The
Hebrews paid great respect to the Cherem, that is,
the curse of Joshua. This anathema was carefully
remembered by them ; and, no doubt, when Hiel
in defiance of it began to build Jericho, the pious
believers among the Hebrews felt indignant at the
daring attempt, and marked the issue in the event
that followed on Hiel's two sons,
JEROBOAM. This man's name is proverbial. —
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
Such is the awful account given of him by God the
Holy Ghost. His name seems to be in some mea-
sure characteristic of the man — he that rejects —
from Jarah, to reject; and his history awfully
proves, bow he rejected the counsel of God against
his own soul. His history we have in 1 Kings,
from xi. 28. to xiv. 20. There was another Jero-
boam, the son of Jehoash. (See 2 Kings xiv. 23.)
During this man's reign, the prophets Hosea, Amos
and Jonah exercised their ministry.
JERUBBAAL. One of the names of Gideon : he
was so called for destroying the grove of that idol
Baal-Jerub, meaning, that he destroys. (See Judg.vi.)
414
to the end.) This man was evidently led on by
the Spirit of the Lord ; and his history affords
very striking testimonies in the Scripture referred
to, and also in the following chapter. Alas ! what
is the best of men, if for a moment acting without
the influence of grace !
JERUSALEM. The holy city: and so generally
known was Jerusalem by this name, that the eastern
part of the world never called it by any other name
than the Elkuds, the holy. Not that this would
have made it so, but it proves the general consent
of nations to the title : no doubt, the thing was from
the Lord. That the Lord Jesus distinguished it in
a very peculiar manner with his love, his lamenta-
tion over it proves. (Matt, xxiii. 37.) And Mat-
thew twice calls it by this name. (Matt. iv. 5. and
xxvii. 53.)
Jerusalem was anciently Jebus. Some called it
Solyma, or Jerosolyma ; but the general name by
the Hebrews was Jeruschalem, meaning, the vision
of peace ; from Rahe, to see ; and Shalom, peace.
Joshua first conquered it, (see Josh, xviii. 28.) but
the Jebusites were not totally drawn out of it until
the days of David. (See 2 Sara. v. 5.) The history of
Jerusalem is truly interesting ; but it would form
more the subject of a volume than a short notice in
a work of this kind, to enter into particulars. If we
were to go back to the first account of it in Scrip-
ture, we must being with Gen. xiv. where we find
Melchisedeck king of it, and then called Salem.
The church, perhaps on this account, speaks of it
as the Lord's tabernacle, (Ps. lxxvi. 2.) and when
we consider, that all the great events of the church
were carried on here, no doubt, it riseth in import-
ance to every believer's view. Here it was the
Lord Jesus made his public appearance, when he
came into our world for the salvation of his people ;
415
here he finished redemption-work ; here he made
that one offering of himself once offered, by which
he perfected for ever them that are sanctified ; and
here all the great events of salvation were wrought.
No wonder, therefore, that Jerusalem hath been
called the holy city, and is rendered so dear to all
his redeemed. Hence Jerusalem, now in the pre-
sent moment, means the church on earth, and is
prayed for under that name. (Isa. lxii. 1. Ps.
exxxvii. 5, 6.) And hence the church in heaven is
called the New Jerusalem. (Rev. iii. 12. and xxi. 2.)
Jerusalem is said lo be the centre of the earth ;
and the prophet Ezekiel, (chap, xxxviii. 11, 12.)
describing the insolent threats of Gog concerning
his proposed destruction of Jerusalem, calls the
people of it, those who dwell in the midst of the
land, or as the margin of the Bible renders it, in
the navel of the earth.
The tears of Jesus over Jerusalem having been
misconstrued, and as such made use of to support
an opinion foreign to the general scope of the gos-
pel, I cannot dismiss the article without offering a
short obvervation upon it.
We are told by the Evangelists, that u when
Jesus was come near to Jerusalem, he beheld the
city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace : but now they are hid from
thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee,
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and
thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave
in thee one stone upon another, because thou
knowest not the time of thy visitation." Whoever
attends with any degree of diligence to those se-
veral expressions of our Lord, will plainly discover
416
that all that is here spoken refers to the destruction
of Jerusalem as a city and nation, and wholly in
temporal things. It hath nothing to do with grace,
as some have improperly concluded, as if Jeru-
salem had outlived her day of grace, and, there-
fore, could find no mercy from the Lord ; and all
sinners, in like manner, might outlive their day
also. There is not a word of the kind in it. Jesus,
in that tenderness of heart w hich distinguished his
character, wept over the beautiful and beloved city,
in contemplating the overthrow of it by the Roman
power, that he knew would sack and destroy it.
And knowing that their rejection of him as the
Lord of life and glory was the cause, he expresseth
himself in tears with this compassionate apostrophe.
But what have those expressions to do with the
doctrine that some men raise out of it, as if Jesus
had limited a day of grace to individuals, and that
men might outlive that day, and then the saving
means of grace would be hidden from their eyes !
Surely, there is not a syllable in the whole passage
to justify or give countenance to such a doctrine.
The Lord is speaking wholly of Jerusalem in tem-
poral things. Hadst thou known (said Jesus), in
this thy day the things which belong to thy peace.
It is Jerusalem's day, not the Lord's day of grace.
It is thy peace, not God's peace. The promise to
all the Lord's people is absolute — " Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power.'' (Ps. ex. 3.)
And this secures the day of grace to all whom the
Father hath given to the Son ; for Jesus saith, "of
all thou hast given me I have lost none." (John
xvii. 12.) So that this holds good respecting the
gift of grace to all generations of the church ; but in
temporals, like Jerusalem, the Lord's judgments
may, and the Lord's judgments will follow and over-
throw nations, where the gospel is preached and
J E 417
rejected. And while the Lord knoweth them that
are his, and will save them by his grace, the nations
who reject Christ, nationally considered, must
perish.
JERUSHA. The mother of Jotham, son of Uzziah
king- of Judah. The name signifies, one that pos-
sesseth the inheritance — from Jarash, to possess.
(2 Kings, xv. 33.)
JESAIAH. Son of Palatiah, meaning, salvation of
the Lord, compounded of Jashah, to save ; and
Jah, the Lord. (1 Chron. iii. 21.)
JESHIMOM. A city in the wilderness. The name
means solitude. (1 Sam. xxiii. 24.)
JESSE. The son of Obed, and father of David-
derived from Jesh, to be. (Ruth iv. 17.) He is
memorable in the genealogies of the Lord Jesus
Christ. (See Matt. i. 5.)
JESUS CHRIST. One of the glorious names of him
which is, and which was, and which is to come.
(Rev. i.8. 11.) The name of Jesus, which is ori-
ginally so called in the Greek tongue, signifies a
Saviour. Hence the Hebrews call him, Jehoshuah,
or Joshua, or Joshuah, he who shall save ; and as
Christ means, anointed of Jehovah, the Sent, the
Sealed of the Father ; full of grace and truth ; both
names together carry this blessed meaning with them,
Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world by the anoint-
ing of Jehovah to all the purposes of salvation.
See Christ. I only detain the reader just to remark
on the blessed name, that all that bore it in the Old
Testament church became types, more or less, of
the Lord Jesus. Joshua the successor of Moses,
and Joshua the high priest in the church, after the
church was brought back from Babylon. (See Zeoh.
iii. 1.) ■
JETHRO. The father-in-law of Moses. This man
is rendered memorable in Scripture history from his
VOL. VI. 2 E
418
connection with Moses ; but for this, it is more than
probable he would never have been known even by
name in the christian church. His name signifies ex-
cellence. His being a priest in Midian, doth not
explain what his religion was. Some have thought,
that he had a knowledge of the God of Israel, else
Moses would not have been allied to him ; and they
that are of that opinion say, that he was descended
from Midian, the son of Abraham, and Keturah.
(See Gen. xxv. 1, 2.) There is some little diffi-
culty in explaining one Scripture by another re-
specting this man. Exod. iii. 1. he is called Jethro;
Num. x. 29. he is called Raguel ; and some have
thought, that Hobab was a third name by which he
was known : but this, it should rather seem, was the
brother of Moses's wife, Zipporah.
JEWS. So called fromJudah. The account of this
most singular people would form a wonderful history,
could it be gathered into one mass of particulars.
Mingled, as they now are, with all the known nations
of the earth, and yet incorporated with none ; car-
rying with them in their very countenance, customs
and manners, one uniform singularity, so as to be
known by all, and yet connected with none ; de-
spised, hated, persecuted, attached to their own
religion, supporting it in spite of all opposition,
and pertinacious still to preserve what the most
learned of them do not understand ; surely they
are, as the Lord hath marked them, and as they are
designated to be, living evidences of the truth of
the gospel. Blessed be God, there is a promise
concerning them, which all the faithful in Christ
Jesus long to see fulfilled : " The Redeemer shall
come to Zion, and unto them that turn from trans-
gression in Jacob, saith the Lord." (Isa. lix. 20.)
JEZEBOL. The wife of Ahab, king of Israel.
(\ Kings xvi. 31.) Her name is very singular,
419
meaning- an island of the habitation — from A i, island ;
and Zebal, habitation. The horrid character of
this woman is strongly marked in the Scriptures,
from 1 Kings xvi. to 2 Kings ix. Indeed, the very
name in the church, hath been always considered
odious. Hence our Lord, in his message to the
churches, calls some worthless person by the name.
(See Rev. ii. 20.) The awful termination of her
life is strongly given. (2 Kings ix. 33.) And the
events which followed her being eaten by dogs,
which the prophet had foretold in the same chapter,
ver. 10. were literally fulfilled.
It may appear somewhat marvellous, that such a
circumstance should take place as that of dogs being
allowed to eat human flesh, and in the very open
streets of the city. But modern historians confirm
the fact, and speak of it as no uncommon thing.
They say that at Gordar, it is usual to hew in
pieces the unhappy prisoners, which fall into their
hands ; and that when this is done, their scattered
fragments are suffered to lie in the streets, being
denied burial. And the stench would be intoler-
able, did not the beasts of prey in the neighbouring
mountains visit the streets by night, and carry off
as carrion the bodies of those so murdered. None
of the inhabitants on account of these beasts, ever
venture out of their houses after it is dark, with-
out a guard and fire-arms. And this may serve
to explain also that passage in the prophet : " I will
appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord, the
sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls
of the heaven, and the beast of the earth, to devour
and destroy." (Jer. xv. 3.)
JEZREEL. A city of Judah. (Joshua xv. 56. Hos. ii.
22.) The name means, seed of God ; from Zeruah,
seed, and EI, God. Children were called by
this name. (1 Chron. iv. 3. Hos. i. 4.) The Jezreel,
2e2
420
where Ahab's palace was, lay distant from the city
of Judah. (2 Kings ix. 10.)
JIAR. The second month among the Hebrews, an-
swering to our April.
IMAGE. I should not have thought it necessary to
have noticed this word, being in the general ac-
ception of it so very plain and obvious, had it not
been so peculiarly made use of in relation to the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as u the Image
of the invisible God." He and he only, is the
image of the invisible God, 8 the first born of
every creature and though not openly revealed,
yet secretly, and in reality set up from everlasting.
Hence, as Christ, thus the glory-man, is declared
to u be the brightness of his Father's glory, and the
express image of his person." (Heb. i. 3.) So
this is the very person in whose likeness, Adam
the first open man, was created and made ; " Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness."
(Gen. i. 26.)
1MMANUEL. See Emmanuel.
IMMORTAL and IMMORTALITY. Strictly and
properly speaking, this can only be applied to Je-
hovah in his threefold character of person ; for of
Him, it is justly said, " who only hath immortality."
(1 Tim. vi. 16.) But in Him, and by Him, and
from Him, the church is said to have rendered to
it " glory and honour and immortality, eternal life."
(Rom. ii. 7.) But then, the striking and essential
difference is here ; Jehovah hath immortality in
himself. It is His very Being — The church hath
it by gift, and enjoys it only from her union with
Christ. Of what nature or kind that immortality
is, which distinguished the state or existence of
the miserable in hell, Scripture hath not said. It
is said, indeed, " their worm dieth not, and the fire
is not quenched." (Mark ix. 44. 46. 48.) How
421
ought true belivers in Jesus to rejoice in the con-
sciousness of their interest in him, to join the
hymn of the apostle ; " Now unto the King- eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour
and glory for ever and ever, Amen." (1 Tim. i. 17.)
IMPOSITION OF HANDS. We find this a very
ancient custom among the Jews, and it should
seem to have its use, founded in somewhat of a
divine authority. The dying patriarch blessed the
sons of Joseph, putting his hands significantly upon
the head of each. (Gen. xliii. 13—20.) But in the
striking act of laying on of hands on the day of
atonement, and which was done by the express ap-
pointment of the Lord, we discover yet more of its
importance. (See Lev. xvi. 21, 22.) So again, by
the same express command of the Lord, Joshua
was ordained by the laying on of the hand of Moses,
his successor. The ceremony must have been
most solemn and affecting, as related Num.
xxvii. 15. to the end. But what endears this
service to the church most is those instances
in which our adorable Redeemer used it. How
lovely Jesus appears in receiving little chil-
dren, and putting his hands on them, and blessing
them ! (Mark x. 13—16.) We find the apostles in
Jesus's name, using the imposition of hands, and
the Lord confirming this act, by his accompanying
it with the blessing of the Holy Ghost. (Acts viii.
17 ; xix. 6.) But how far the Lord hath honoured
it in the after ages of the church, I presume not to
speak.
IMPURE and IMPURITY. Under the law of
Moses, we find many circumstances spoken of re-
specting legal impurity. Thus touching a dead
body, or any creature deemed unclean by the
law : touching a living person when under unclean,
ness ; a leper, or one with a running sore, and the
422 I M
like ; or garments unclean, &c. And this impurity
attached itself to the person so touching any thing
of uncleanness, though it was done involuntarily,
and himself unconscious of it. And the law which
pointed to these acts of impurity, prescribed the
modes of cleansing ; some by bathing, others by
sacrifice. No doubt many of these things had
a gospel signification, and preached Christ the only
laver and fountain for sin and for uncleanness.
But what blessed views ought all true believers in
Christ to have of these things, when reading at any
time the law of Moses, in beholding the whole
done away in the person, work, and finished salva-
tion of Jesus. Think how dear, and endeared in
every way, and by every means, is the Lord Jesus
Christ when brought home to the heart, and
formed " in the heart the hope of glory."
IMPUTE and IMPUTED. This word, and the
sense of it, according to the gospel, forming so
important an article in the faith of a believer, I
have thought it highly proper that it should have
a distinct place of attention in a work of this kind.
To impute, is to charge a thing upon a person
whether guilty or not, as the circumstances here-
after are proved, or not. Thus Shiinei intreated
David, that he would not " impute iniquity to him"
for some former transaction. (2 Sam. xix. 19.)
And the apostle Paul, (Rom. iv. 8.) declares them
blessed to whom the Lord " will not impute sin."
This is the general sense of imputation. But in the
case of the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ to his people, and their sins imputed to him;
the sense of imputation goes farther, and ascribes
to Christ, and to the sinner, that which each hath
not, but by the very act of imputing it to them.
Hence the apostle Paul explains it in the clearest
manner in two Scriptures : the first, in 2 Cor.
423
v. 21, where speaking- of this imputation of our
sins to Christ, and his righteousness to us, he re-
fers it into the sovereignty and good pleasure of
God the Father. For speaking of Christ, it is
used, " God hath made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin ; that we might be made the righ-
teousness of God in him." Here the doctrine of
imputation is most plainly and fully stated. Christ
is the imputed sinner, or rather sin itself in the
total abstract, and in the very moment when he knew
no sin. And the sinner is said to be righteous ; yea,
the righteousness of God in Christ ; when in the same
time he hath not a single portion of righteousness in
himself, or in any of his doings. This is, there-
fore, to impute Christ's righteousness to his
people, and their sins to him. The other Scrip-
ture that explains the doctrine is but in part,
namely, respecting the imputation of sin. (Gal.
iii. 13.) "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us." Here
Christ stands with all the curse of a broken law
charged upon him, as the sinner's Surety ; yea,
as the curse itself. And consequently, as in the
doing of this, he takes it from his people; they are
redeemed from it. The original debtor, and the
Surety, who pays for that debtor, cannot both have
the debt at the same time charged upon them. This,
therefore, is the blessed doctrine of imputation.
Our sins are imputed to Christ. His righteous-
ness is imputed to us. And this by the authority
and appointment of Jehovah ; for without this au-
thority and appointment of Jehovah, the transfer
could not have taken place. For it would have been
totally beyond our power to have made it. But
surely not beyond the right and prerogative of
God. And if God accepts such a ransom; yea,
he himself appoints it: and if the sinner by
442 I N
Christ's righteousness be made holy : and if the
sins of the sinner be all done away by Christ's
voluntary sufferings and death: if the law of God
be thus honoured ; the justice of God thus satis-
fied ; all the divine perfections glorified by an
equivalent ; yea, more than an equivalent, inas-
much as Christ's obedience and death infinitely
transcend in dignity and value the everlasting
obedience of men and angels ; surely, here is the
fullest assurance of the truth of the doctrine
of Christ's imputed righteousness, and the perfect
approbation of Jehovah to the blessed plan of re-
demption. Well, therefore, might the apostle,
when speaking of the faith of Abraham on this point,
declare the cause of it : " Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
Now (saith the apostle) it was not written for his
sake that it was imputed to him: but for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who
was delivered for our offences, and raised again for
our justification." (Rom. iv. throughout.)
If I have succeeded in thus stating the gospel
sense of imputation, in the transfer of our sins unto
the Lord Jesus, and the imputation of his righteous-
ness to us : nothing can be more blessed than the
doctrine itself, and nothing more important than
the cordial belief of it, to bring consolation and
joy to the heart of every believer.
IMRI. Son ofOmri. (1 Chron. ix. 4.) There was
another of this name in the church. (See Neh.iii. 2.)
The name is from Marah, bitter.
INCENSE. In the old church we find great atten-
tion paid respecting the offerings of incense in
the holy place. Aaron was enjoined to burn
incense perpetually before the Lord. (Exod. xxx.
425
7, 8.) An awful judgment followed the sons of
Aaron for offering' strange fire before the Lord.
(Lev. x. 1.) And the instance of Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram, is another proof of the Lord's jealousy
concerning offerings made by fire and incense.
(Num. xvi. throughout.) Through many parts of
the Bible, we find the great regard had to the
sacred nature of incense. And as the prophet
Malachi was commissioned to tell the church, that
in the days of the Lord Jesus, fc incense should be
offered unto the Lord from the rising of the sun,
unto the going down of the same, with a pure offer-
ing ;" it appears, that the whole appointment of
incense was intended as typical of Christ. Hence.,
the beloved apostle John, when he saw heaven
opened, beheld the Lord Jesus beside the golden
altar, with his golden censer, " to whom was given
much incense, to offer with the prayers of all saints."
(Rev. viii. 3, 4.) It is very blessed to consider
how the intercession of the Lord Jesus, in his ever-
lasting priesthood, was thus shadowed forth from
the earliest ages of the church ; and it is doubly
blessed, when through the sweet influences of the
Holy Ghost, the Lord's people are brought to
live alid act in all their approaches to the throne,
under the censer of Christ's incense and righteous-
ness.
INHERITANCE. See Heritage.
INSTRUMENTS. See Music.
INTERCESSOR and INTERCESSION. We
meet with but one passage in the Bible where the
word Intercessor is used, namely, Isa. lix. 16.
though by virtue of the office of interceding as our
great high priest, it is a well known character of
Christ. But though the name and title is but once
mentioned, being implied in that of his priestly office,
yet the Lord Jesus, in his sweet employment as
426
our Advocate with the Father, is held up to the
view of the church in this most endearing- character
every where throughout the word of God. He is
said " to make intercession for the transgressors
when he was numbered with them and bare their sins."
(Isa. liii. 12.) And the apostle Paul as blessedly
points to Jesus in his priestly office, when he en-
courageth the poor sinner to come to him, because
u he ever liveth to make intercession for them, and
is able to save to the uttermost all that come to
God by him." (Heb. vii. 25.) And God the Holy
Ghost is careful to shew the church how the Lord
Jesus carrieth on this gracious office. First by per-
sonally appearing, " in the presence of God for us."
(Heb. ix. 24.) John saith, that he saw him in the
midst of a throne as "a lamb that had been slain."
(Rev. v. 6.) intimating, that his wounds still ap-
peared fresh and flowing-, to denote the everlasting-
efficacy of it. And secondly, the Lord Jesus car-
rieth on this high office not only by a naked ap-
pearance in the presence of Jehovah for his
people, but by pleading- the merits and worth of
his sacrifice and righteousness. Paul the apostle
calls Christ's blood a speaking blood, (see Heb.
xii. 24.) and so it certainly is ; for if, as the Lord
said to Cain, " The voice of thy brother's blood
crieth unto me from the ground," (Gen. iv. 10.)
what a voice must there be in Christ's blood, crying
as it doth for mercy and salvation ! Surely it
speaks to God of God's faithfulness to his promises,
and Christ's claim to his merits ; and it speaks from
God for our sure pardon, and all the blessings of
redemption to Jehovah's glory and Christ's and
his church's triumph and happiness. Such are the
blessed views of Christ in his intercessional cha-
racter.
1 would beg yet farther to observe, that this bless-
427
edness is abundantly heightened when we consider
that he who intercedes, and he with whom interces-
sion is made, are one in the same design and end.
The divine glorv is the first cause, and the final
issue of all. The church, made up of redeemed
sinners, is originally the Father's gift to the Son.
(John xvii. 6.) The son hath purchased the church
with his blood. (Acts xx. 28.) Hence, therefore,
all the persons of the Godhead are engaged and
interested in the same concern. And as Christ is
God the Father's dear Son, so is the church the
dear children of God in Christ : so that what our
blessed Lord Jesus saith, when speaking of this
very subject, comes home to the heart of the be-
liever with the strongest and sweetest recommenda-
tion of tenderness. " At that day ye shall ask in
my name, and I say not unto you, that I will pray
the Father for you ; for the Father himself loveth
you, because you have loved me, and have believed
that I came out from God." (John xvi. 26, 27.)
These are blessed views both of the Father's ever-
lasting love, and Christ's unceasing intercession.
And it is highly important to remark, and a point
that should never be lost sight of, that Christ in all
his intercessions never once prayeth for the Father's
love to the church, but for the fruits and effects of
that love and his own merits and death. Yea,
Christ himself, with all his fulness, blessedness, and
glory, is the gift of the Father ; for the express
doctrine of the gospel in its first and leading point
is, " that God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John,
iii. 16.) For a farther illustration of Christ's office
of Intercessor, see Advocate.
INTERPRETER. We meet with this word twice
in the history of Joseph. (Gen, xl. 8; xlii. 23.) and
428
once in the history of Job, (chap, xxxiii. 23.) The
office of an interpreter, in the general acceptation
of the word, is not difficult to apprehend. It means,
in our present use of the term, merely a person who
explains to each party between whom he acts what
each saith, because they do not understand one
another's language, and this interpreter understands
both. But in the Scripture sense of the word, the
character of an interpreter riseth much higher.
The original word, translated interpreter, (Gen.
xlii. 23.) which is Malats, means something that is
persuasive, smooth, or to soften, like our English
word mollify. And the person that did this office
between Joseph and his brethren is supposed, by
the expression and the name of Malats, by which
he is so called, to be a softener of Jacob's sons'
speeches, by way of conciliating the favour of Jo-
seph. And it would have been no violence to the
passage if, instead of reading it as it is in our
Bibles, it had been read, " and they knew not that
Joseph heard thein, for the Advocate was between
them." The character of an interpreter in this sense,
is truly interesting, and throws a great beauty
upon this oriental history ; and no less upon the
similar passage in Job, for the word is the same in
both. Indeed, some have not scrupled, in this last
passage, to translate Malats, mediator, as conveying
much nearer the sense of the passage, than that
of an interpreter, unless it be remembered that in
the eastern world a Malats, or interpreter, advo-
cated the cause he interpreted.
And this view appears still more striking from
Joseph's history as related to us in our own trans-
lation. For beside this interpretation given by the
Malats to Joseph, it is plain, that Joseph and his
brethren conversed together without the medium of
an interpreter, as we read in the twenty-fourth verse:
429
ibr there it is said, " that he turned himself about
from them and wept ; and returned to them again
and communed with them." Hence, therefore, it
should seem, that in the eastern countries this office
of interpreter was, as the very name implies, a very
affectionate, tender, and interesting- office. And
though I would not go so far as to say, that the glo-
rious Mediator of his people was prefigured in
every use of it, yet T do venture to think it was pe-
culiarly significant on this occasion amidst the bre-
thren of Joseph. The church of Christ now, which
those sons of Israel then represented, when stand-
ing before our governor, do not always know, that
our Almighty Joseph knows, hears, and regards
all ; and yet, while carrying on his many offices,
how often doth he commune with his people, both
with and without mediums ! Well might John behold
him with his many crowns upon his head ; for surely
every office of his, in every individual sinner saved
by him, demands a new crown of glory. (Rev.
xix. 12.)
INVISIBLE. One of the distinguishing attributes
of Jehovah. (1 Tim. i. 17.)
JOAB. One of the captains in David's army. His
name is expressive of genealogy — from Ab, a father.
His history begins 2 Sam. ii. and runs through the
greater part of the life of David.
JOAKIM. The same as Eliakim. (Luke iii. 23.)
JOANNA. Wife of Cuza. (Luke viii. 3.) Her name
signifies, the gift or grace of God.
JOB. The man of Uz. His name signifies, what he
himself was, one that weeps. His name is cjuoted
with great honour by the Lord himself. (Ezek.
xiv. 14.) and his patience recommended very forci-
bly by an Apostle. (James v. 11.)
JOCHEBED. The mother of Miriam, Aaron, and
430
Moses. (Exod. vi. 20.) The name is compounded
of Cabad, glory ; and J ah, the Lord.
JOEL. The prophet, whose writings form part of
the sacred canon of Scripture, and are quoted by
Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. (See
Joel ii. 28, 29, &c. Acts ii. 16, &c.)
There were several Joels beside the prophet,
whose names are recorded in Scripture.
Joel, son of Samuel, 1 Sam. viii. 1, 2.
Joel, son of Josebiah, 1 Chron. iv. 35.
Joel, son of Jorabiah, 1 Chron. vii. 3.
Joel, one of David's army, 1 Chron. xi. 38.
Joel, a Levite, 1 Chron. xv. 7.
Joel, son of Pedaiah, 1 Chron. xxvii. 20.
JOHANAN. Son of Careah. (2 Kings xxv. 23.) His
name is compounded of Chanan, grace ; and J ah, the
Lord.
JOHN. Is an abbreviation of Johannan, and of much
the same meaning. We need not dwell much upon
this name, neither the persons so eminently distin-
guished by it. Their histories and worth are gra-
ciously preserved in the New Testament by God
the Holy Ghost, and their names are in the book
of life.
John the Baptist hath the priority in point of
time, being born six months before the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. John, the beloved apostle, was
the youngest of all the disciples, and is not unfre-
quently distinguished by the title of the disciple
whom Jesus loved. We have abundant cause
to bless God for the ministry of this man, on ac-
count of the precious gospel which bears his name,
and also for those three Epistles, as well as the
Book of the Revelations, with which the sacred
canon of Scripture closeth.
There is another John surnamed Mark, spoken
of with honourable testimony in the New Testament.
431
(Acts xii. 12.) This man, though called John, and
surnamed Mark, was neither the apostle John nor
the evangelist Mark, but another person. Paul
speaks of him, Coloss iv. 10.
JONADAB. The son of Rechab, (Jer. xxxv. 6 ; de-
rived from Nadab, a prince.
JONAH. The son of Amittai the prophet. His his-
tory we have incorporated with his writings. If there
were no other cause to recommend Jonah to the
attention of the chuich, than his being declared by
Christ himself to have been his type, this were
enough. And how striking a one it is, the most in-
attentive reader can hardly fail to observe. On the
subject of the Gourd, I believe that the general
opinion of all travellers hath been, that it was the
same as is called at Aleppo, the Polma Christi. Its
growth is said to have been so rapid, that the
Kekajon, for so it is called, will send out shoots,
in the compass of a night, near four inches. In the
margin of our Bibles it is called, " the son of the
night," to intimate its quick progress, and conse-
quently its short duration.
JONATHAN. Saul's son,David's dear friend, (1 Sam.
xviii. 1.) His death, with that of Saul, gave birth
to one of the most poetical as well as devout elegies
the world ever knew (2 Sam. i. 17. His name is
compounded of Nathan, a gift ; and Jah, the Lord.
There are many of this name in Scripture.
Jonathan, a Levite, the son of Gershom, Judg.
xviii. 20.
Jonathan, the son of Abiather the priest, 1 Kings
i. 42.
Jonathan, the son of Shage the Hararite,
1 Chron. xi. 34.
Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, 1 Chron. xx. 7.
Jonathan, or Jehonathan, the son of Uzziah,
1 Chron. xxvii. 25.
432
Jonathan, the son of Asahel, Ezra x. 15.
Jonathan, the High Priest, Neh. xii. 10.
Jonathan, the Scribe, Jer. xxxvii. 14, 15.
JOPPA. The sea-port in Palestine in the Medi-
terranean.
The name signifies beauty — from Japhah. Here
it was that Jonah went to flee from the presence of
the Lord. (Jonah i. 3.) Here Peter dwelt when sent
for by Cornelius. And Tabitha also lived here, whom
Peter by the Lord raised from the dead. (See Acts
ix. 36. and x. 5, 6.)
JORDAN. That sacred river where the Lord Jesus
Christ was baptized. It takes its name from Jor, a
spring, and Dan, a small town near the source of
Jor. Some have called it Jordun : and they say it
means the river of judgment, from Dun, judgment.
Every thing tends to endear this river to the be-
liever. Numberless are the meditations it affords to
the regenerate, in the many sacred events which
have taken place at and on the banks of Jordan.
(See Gen. xiii. 11. Num. xxxiv. 12. Josh. iii. 8. 11.
15. and iv. 3. 17. 23. 1 Kings xvii. 3. 2 Kings ii.
6, 7. 2 Kings v. 10. 14. Matt iii. 6. 17. &c. &c.)
JOSEPH. The well known son of Jacob, whose his-
tory we have in Genesis from the thirtieth chapter
to the end of the book. His name, in the margin of
the Bible, is Adding — from Jasaph, to increase. It
were needless to enter into particulars of Joseph's
history, when the Bible hath given it so beautifully.
But perhaps it may not be an unacceptable service
to observe on the history of this patriarch, what a
remarkable character he is, and in what number-
less instances he appears as a type of Christ : taken
altogether, perhaps the greatest in the whole Scrip-
tures. I shall particularize in a few leading features.
As Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob, and
distinguished by his father with special tokens of
433
his affection, and which excited the envy of his
brethren; so Christ, the beloved and only begotten
son of God, by means of that distinguishing token
of Jehovah, in setting him up, the Head of his body
the church, and giving him a kingdom, in his glori-
ous character of Mediator, called forth, as is most
generally believed, that war we read of in heaven
in the original rebellion of angels. (See Rev. xii.)
The coat of many colours Joseph wore might not
unaptly be said to represent the several offices of
the Lord Jesus when on earth — his prophetical,
priestly, and kingly character. The dreams of
Joseph, implying his superiority over his brethren
and his father's house, interpreted with an eye to
Christ, are very striking circumstances of the pre-
eminency of his character. Of him, indeed, might
the prophecy of Jacob respecting Judah be fully
applied : " Thou art he whom thy brethren shall
praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine ene-
mies, and thy father's children shall bow down be-
fore thee." (Gen. xlix.8.) The mission of Joseph to
his brethren, by the father, to see if they were well,
and how they fared, (Gen. xxxvii. 14.) is a striking
representation of the mission of God's dear Son to
this our world. He came indeed, not only to seek,
but to save that which was lost; but like another
Joseph, the treatment he received corresponded
in all points, only in an infinitely higher degree of
baseness and cruelty. They sold Joseph for a slave,
for twenty pieces of silver, and he was carried
down into Egypt, and from the pit and the prison
he arose, by divine favour, to be Governor over the
whole land. But our Joseph was not only sold for
thirty pieces of silver, but at length crucified and
slain, and from the grave which he made with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, by his resur-
rection and ascension, at the right hand of power,
vol. vi. 2 F
434
he is become the universal and eternal Governor
both of heaven and earth.
The temptations of Joseph, by the wife of Poti-
phar, bear no very distant resemblance to the
temptations of the Lord Jesus by Satan. The trial
to the one, was the lusts of the flesh ; the trial to
the other, was the pride of life. But the grace im-
parted to Joseph, to repel the temptation, and the
punishment he suffered by a false imputation, very
beautifully set forth the innocency of Christ tri-
umphing' over the Devil's temptation in the wilder-
ness, and the imputation of our sin to Jesus, who
himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree,
though himself without sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth. In the exaltation of Joseph at the
right hand of Pharaoh, and all the famished country
coming to him for bread, we behold a lovely type,
indeed, of our Almighty Joseph exalted at the right
hand of God, and dispensing blessings of grace
and mercy in the living bread, which is himself, to
a famished world. And as then the Zapnath-
paaneah of Egypt revealed secrets, and the cry
was, Go unto Joseph, what he saith unto you, do:
so now, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
do, indeed, behold our Wonderful Counsellor,
who hath made known to us his and his Father's
will, and the one desire of every soul is, to go unto
Jesus, whatsoever he saith unto us is blessed, and
our duty to obey.
In the going down of Israel into Egypt with all
his house, constrained by famine to seek bread —
what a striking portrait is here also drawn of the
true Israel of God, constrained by the famine of
soul to seek to Jesus for supply. And though
like the brethren of Joseph, little do we at first
know, that the Lord of the country is our brother,
though in the first awakenings of spiritual want, the
J O 435
Governor may seem with us, as Joseph did to them,
to speak roughly ; yet when the whole comes to
be opened to our view, and Jesus is indeed disco-
vered to be Lord of all the land, how, like Joseph's
brethren, are we immediately made glad, and eat
and drink at his table with him, forgetting all past
sorrow in present joy, and partaking of that u bread
of life, of which whosoever eateth shall live for
ever !"
Such, among many other striking particularities,
are the incidents in the history of the patriarch
Joseph, which are highly typical of Christ.
Under the article of Joseph we must not forget
to observe, that there are several more of the name
mentioned in Scripture, and of some importance.
Joseph the husband of Mary, the mother of the
Lord Jesus Christ, Matt. i. 15. 18.
Joseph, or Joses, the son of Mary and Cleophas,
supposed to be one of those who did not at first
believe on Christ, but was afterwards converted,
John vii. 5.
Joseph, called Barsabas, a candidate for the
apostleship with Matthias. See Acts i, 23.
Joseph of Arimathea, John xix. 38.
Joseph, husband to Salome.
JOSHUA. The son of Nun, whose name and history
we have very fully related in the church of the
wilderness, and afterward in his victories, as set
forth in the book which bears his name. His name
in Hebrew is the same as Jesus in Greek, signifying
a Saviour ; from Jashah, to save ; and Jah, the
Lord. This man was an evident type of Christ. See
his history in the Book of Joshua.
JOSIAH. Son of Amon, king of Judah, (2 Kings
xxii. 1, &c.) The name signifies, the fire of the
Lord ; from Esh, fire ; and Jah, the Lord.
2 f 2
436
IRIJAH. He who arrested Jeremiah, (Jer. xxxvii. 13.)
His name means, the fear of the Lord ; from Jarah,
to fear ; and Jah, the Lord.
ISAAC. Abraham's son, the child of promise. See
Hagar.
I3AIAH. The prophet, the son of Amos. Highly,
under God the Holy Ghost, is the church indebted
to the ministry of this man. Amidst many events
in this man's life, was that of this walking three
years barefoot and naked. (See Isa. xx. 2.) Was
not this also typical of Christ's three years mi-
nistry? His name signifies salvation of the Lord;
from Jashah, salvation ; and Jah, the Lord. I
cannot forbear mentioning the commonly-received
opinion, that Isaiah was sawn asunder, in the be-
ginning of the reign of Manasseh, and that his
body was buried near Jerusalem, under the fuller's
oak near Siloam. And the tradition concern-
ing this event is, that it was brought upon him by
the event of his publishing his vision, (chap, vi.)
in which he saith, "he saw the Lord sitting on a
throne high and lifted up." Manasseh said, that
this was blasphemy, as Moses had recorded the
Lord's words, Exod. xxxiii. 20. " No man shall
see me and live."
Isaiah prophesied many years, not less than three-
score, though some make his ministry to have
extended to four-score. Who can read the pro-
phecy of Isaiah withoutthe mostprofound admiration !
It is not only unequalled in point of language, but
it contains so much of Christ, that it looks more
like an history than a prophecy. It is more like
the writings of a person who was present at Pilate's
hall, and Herod's judgment-seat, when describing
the sufferings of Jesus, than of one who wrote
those events, by the spirit of prediction, more than
437
seven hundred years before the things there spoken
of came to pass. St. Jeroin calls Isaiah's pro-
phecy, an abridgment of the holy Scriptures. And
Grotius prefers Isaiah to all the writers of Greece
and Rome. But how truly blessed are the predic-
tions of Isaiah to the believer who hath lived to see
the whole fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the
Holy Ghost is led to discover not only the corres-
pondence between them, but his own personal
interest therein.
ISCARIOT. A name peculiarly suited to the traitor
Judas: for the word means, a man of murder ; from
Ish, a man ; and Corath, he that cuts off.
lSHBIBENOB. The son of Ob, (2 Sam. xxi. 16, 17.)
The meaning of the name is, he that sits in the
word, or prophecy, from Tsheba, to sit; beth, in;
neba, the prophecy.
ISHBOSHETH. The son of Saul (2 Sam. ii. 8.) ;
a man of shame ; from Ish, a man ; and bosh,
shame.
1SHI. We meet with this word Hos. ii. 16. Our
translators have thought proper to preserve the
word in its original, giving the meaning of it in the
margin, my husband. And it becomes a subject of
no small concern to ask the cause wherefore the
translators thought proper so to do ? I do not pre-
sume to speak decidedly to the point, and to de-
termine what their designs were ; yet I venture
to conjecture, and shall give the reader my opinion.
Let the reader first observe, that the prophet
was commissioned to tell the church, that in the
gospel-day, when the glorious Messiah, whom the
church had been all along expecting, should come,
the church should know the Lord by this name
Ishi, my husband, or my man; and should drop
the common name of Baali, my Lord : as if this
438
was not sufficiently expressive of the nearness and
clearness between them. The church was then to
know her Lord in his human nature, as well as his
Godhead, and in the union of both as her Lord
her Righteousness. Now then, saith the Lord
Jesus, (for observe it is Jesus himself that is the
speaker in this chapter) now then, thou shalt call
me by that tender and endearing name, in the na-
ture that I shall then openly appear in among you,
my man. I have been from everlasting the Hus-
band and Head of my church, in the secret trans-
actions of covenant redemption; but in that day when
I shall openly manifest myself in that character I will
be called Ishi : " for my people shall know my
name, therefore they shall in that day know that I
am he that doth speak, behold, it is 1 ! " (Isa. lii. 6.)
Reader think of the love and tenderness of thy
Jesus 1 Was there ever such grace manifested as
by him? Who but must love him? Who but must
delight in him ? Yes, Lord, I will do as thou hast
said, and call thee Ishi, my Husband, my man, and
also the Lord my Righteousness! See Ammi.
ISHMAEL. The son of Abraham and Hagar. His
name is derived from Shamah, to bear ; and El,
God. (Gen. xvi. 1.)
ISHTOB. An inhabitant or man of Tob, a country-
north of mount Gilead, where Jephtha resided. (See
Judg. xi. 3.) The name is a compound of Ish, a
man ; and Tob, good : so that to say, an inhabitant
of Tob, seems to have been proverbial for a good
man.
ISMACHIAH. A person in the days of Heze-
kiah, to whom the king intrusted the offerings of the
temple. (2 Chron. xxxi. 13.) The name signifies,
one joined to the Lord ; from Samach, to unite ;
and Jah, th e Lord.
439
ISRAEL — Or more properly, as it is rendered, Ish-
rael, the name given to Jacob by the Lord him-
self, on his wrestling- with God in prayer and pre-
vailing. (See Gen. xxxii. 24 — 28.) from Sharah, to
subdue or govern ; and El, God. The whole
people of God are frequently in Scripture called
by this name. (Exod. iii. 6, 7. So again, chap. vi. 6. 7.)
But what endears this name yet infinitely more is,
that the Lord Jesus himself, as the glorious Head
of his church and people, including both Jew and
Gentile, calls himself by this name ; and Jehovah
doth the same by Christ. (See Isa. xlix. 1 — 6.
and Isa. xliv. 1 — 5.) And hence the whole church
of the Lord Jesus are called Israelites. (Rom. ix. 4.)
and the Lord Jesus, when speaking of his sheep
under one view, saith, that they shall be brought
into " one fold under one shepherd." (John x. 16.)
ISSACHAR. The son of Jacob, by Leah. (Gen.
xxx. 14 — 18.) His name signifies a price or hire ;
and so it is rendered in the margin of our Bibles,
derived from Shachar, a price. The most remark-
able circumstance in the history of Issachar, is
his father's prophetical blessing of him. (Gen. xlix.
14, 15.) " Issachar (said the dying patriarch) is
a strong ass, couching down between two burthens ;
and he saw that rest was good, and the land that
it was pleasant ; and bowed his shoulder to bear,
and became a servant unto tribute." If the sense
of this passage (as most of the other blessings
Jacob when a-dying bequeathed to his children
are) be spiritual, there is much of Jesus, and his
person, and salvation in it. Issachar, like all true
Israelites, bends between the two burthens of sin
and sorrow, for they are inseparable ; and no rest
but Jesus can be found, to deliver from the dread-
ful pressure. He is, indeed, "the rest wherewith
he causeth the weary to rest" from the burden.
440
Easy will be the tribute of a redeemed heart to the
Lord, to bless him for his mercy. We find similar
beauties in the blessing of Moses, the man of God,
overlssachar, if explained in the same gospel-sense.
(See Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19.)
ITHAMAR. The fourth son of Aaron. (Exod. vi.
23.) His name signifies, island of the palm tree,
from Tamar, a palm tree, on Ai, an island. We
have nothing particularly interesting in the Bible
concerning this man.
ITHIEL. The son of Jessaiah. (Neh. xi. 7.) The
name signifies, with God ; from Eth, with — and Elr
God.
ITHMA H. One of David's worthies, (1 Chron. xi. 46.)
Perhaps the name means admiration ; from Thamah,
to admire.
ITUREA. A province of Syria. (See Luke iii. I.)
The meaning is, what is guarded ; from Thur, to
keep.
JUBAL. The son of Lamech. (Gen. iv. 21. ) He
invented instruments of music. His name is from
Jobel, he that produceth. See Father.
JUBILEE — Or Jobel more properly, which signifies
a ram's horn. The day of Jubilee was a high feast
in the Jewish church, and appointed by the Lord
for the great year of release, every forty-ninth
year, or seven times seven. In the twenty-fifth
of Leviticus, we have the whole account of the ap-
pointment- Some have taken for granted, that the
name itself was taken from Jubal, or Jobel, the
son of Lamech, because he was the father or
inventor of music : but others, more probably,
derive it from the verb Hebiel, to bring back;
because it was the year of general restoration, or
bringing back. The imagination cannot conceive
the effect of the morning of the day which com-
menced the Jubilee, which must have been wrought
441
upon the different orders of the people among
• the Jews. It began, we are told, on the first day
of the month Tizri, the first month of the civil
year, and the seventh of the ecclesiastical year,
and corresponded to our month of September ;
and on the ninth day of Tizri, when the trumpets
sounded, at that instant, every poor captive among
the Jews was freed, and every mortgaged inherit-
ance returned to its original owner. I leave the
reader to his own reflections, what feelings must
have been wrought on the different minds of all
concerned, both of the master and of the servant,
both of the man with whom was vested bonded
land, and the one who received back his mortgaged
inheritance. But while I pass over the Jewish
camp on these particulars, I cannot help observing
how infinitely surpassing must be the effect of
the Jobel trumpet in the Christian church, when
the captive sinner, and the poor soul who hath
mortgaged his inheritance, first hears the joyful
sound of redemption by the blood of Christ, and
is brought " to walk in the light of the Lord's
countenance." (Ps. lxxxix. 15.) And this is not
limited to every forty-ninth year, but is every
year, and every day, yea, every hour of the day
since Christ wrought salvation for his people, and
the type of the Jubilee trumpet done away by
the thing signified being come. Concerning this
blessed event the Lord hath said, 8 the year of
vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come." (Isa. lxiii. 4.) See Feasts.
It is said, that after the Jews returned from Baby-
lon the Jubilee was discontinued, but they ob-
served the Sabbatical year. See Sabbatical.
JUDAH. The fourth son of Jacob, by Leah. The
name more properly is Jehudah. And Leah his
mother made this remarkable observation on his
442
birth, she said : " Now I praise the Lord : " there-
fore, that is, on that account, she called his name
Jehudah, that is, (as the margin of the Bible ren-
ders it) praise. (Gen. xxix. 35.) And this name
is a plain compound (as Mr. Parkhurst observes)
of Jah, the Lord ; and hudah, to confess. Now
then, if we turn to the prophetical expressions of
the dying- patriarch Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 8.) con-
cerning Judah, we shall arrive at the full sense of
both passages, Leah's, and her husband's. u Judah,
thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise." This
reading doth not convey to us the expression as
strongly, though the sense is the same, as by read-
ing it thus : Thou, Judah, thy brethren shall (con-
fessor,) or praise, (as Jehudah ;) " thy father's chil-
dren shall bow down to thee : " that is, they shall
acknowledge thee to be the Jehudah, and as such
shall bow down to thee.
And this forms a beautiful correspondence to
what the apostle, in the gospel-church, in after
ages, was commissioned, by the same Holy Spirit
that moved the patriarch, (2 Pet. i. 21.) to tell
the people of the Lord Jesus, who sprang out of
Judah after the flesh, and was, and is, the Jehudah of
his people — " who being (saith the apostle) in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men : and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross : wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every
name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth ; and that every tongue
should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to he
glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii. 6—11.)
443
While I am speaking of Judah, under this one
view of him in this memorable prophecy, it may
not be amiss to consider him also in another.
The same prophetic spirit that was in Jacob, lead-
ing- him to the acknowledgment of Judah under
one character typical of the Messiah, prompted
him to speak of him under another. " The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come." (Gen. xlix. 10.)
The Jews themselves, however unintentionally
and unconsciously, confirmed the certainty that
this Scripture referred to the Lord Jesus Christ
under a double evidence. For when in the hall
of Pilate Jesus stood before the Governor, and
the Governor asked him, saying, " Art thou the
king of the Jews?" Jesus acknowledged it, and
said unto him, Thou sayest. (Matt. xvii. 11.) But
soon after, when to the cry of the Jews for Christ's
crucifixion, Pilate said, " Shall I crucify your
king ? " the chief priests answered, " We have
no king but Cajsar." Here was a confirmation to
the one part of Jacob's dying prophecy, that the
Shiloh should not come until the sceptre was
departed from Judah — the chief priests confessed
that that sceptre was departed, for they acknow-
ledged that they had then no king but Cassar ;
and, therefore, the Shiloh was come. The other
testimony, and from their own lips, also became
equally strong. Jacob said, that a lawgiver should
not depart from between his feet until Shiloh
came ; and this law they proved did remain, for
they contended with Pilate to enforce that law,
for supposed blasphemy in the person of Christ.
Take ye him, and crucify him said Pilate, for I
find no fault in him. They then made this memo-
rable answer : " We have a law, and by our law
he ought to die, because he made himself the
444
Son of God." Thus confirming the other predic-
tion of the patriarch, that the lawgiver was not
gone from between the feet of Judah until the
Shiloh was come, to whom the whole referred.
Two such striking evidences, and from the Jews
themselves, on this important subject, never surely
could have been expected ; and now obtained,
could only have been brought to pass by the over-
ruling power and ordination of the Lord.
The reader will, I hope, indulge me with one
observation more concerning Judah, in respect to
this memorable prophecy of his father Jacob ;
because I humbly conceive it is important, and
every thing connected with our Lord Jesus cannot
fail of being interesting to his people. It is well
known that the word Shebeth, which is translated,
(Gen. xlix. 10.) sceptre, and signifies a powerful
kingly office, is the same word which, (Judges
v. 14.) is translated pen. u Out of Machir came
down governors, and out of Zebulon they that
handle the pen of the writer : " or, they that
handle the Shebeth of the Scribes. Now it is
evident, from the use of the Shebeth upon both
occasions, (Gen. xlix. 10. and Judges v. 14.) the
one speaking of the office of a king, and the
other of the scribe, that without violence to the
expressions in either case, and in reference to the
glorious person typified, his ruling the sceptre, or
writing with his pen, conveys the idea of equal
offices. The governors of Machir, and the pen of
the writer of Zebulon, are put in parallel rank of
equal dignity and importance. Hence, therefore,
why may not the Shebeth of our Almighty Jehudah
be supposed to convey an idea of his taking down
the names of his people, whose names we know
are "written in the Lamb's book of life?" (Rev.
xxi. 27.) Who but him wrote those names in the
445
book of life ? Is not Jesus described, and by him-
self, under the spirit of prophecy, as having- "a
tongue as the pen of a ready writer?" (Ps. xlv. 1.)
And if a tongue to speak, why not the hand to
write of the things touching himself? More-
over, if none but Jesus was found worthy " to
open the book, and to loose the seals thereof," which
was seen by John in the hand of him that sat on the
throne, who but him could be worthy to write the
records in it? (Rev. v. 1 — 10.)
1 beg the reader to observe, that I desire to de-
liver these sentiments, on a subject so necessarily
sublime and mysterious, with the most profound
awe and reverence. I would be always understood
on these deep things as rather inquiring than de-
ciding, rather desiring to be taught than to teach ;
but I cannot but think, that such views of the
Lord Jesus are very sweet and interesting, and
tend, under the Holy Ghost's guidings, to endear
Christ to the heart, when we behold him thus
typically represented in so many engaging ser-
vices for his people. And surely, as it is said of
Christ in one blessed Scripture, that the names
of his people are all "written in the book of life,"
(Rev. xx. 15.) and in another he bids his people
to * rejoice that their names are written there,"
(Luke x. 20.) as when considering himself the
shepherd of his flock, and his people the
sheep of his fold, he saith that " he calleth
them all by name, and leadeth them out," (John
x. 3.) and as the whole flocks of the mountains,
and of the vale, and of the cities of Benjamin,
Jerusalem, and Judah, shall all pass again under
the hands of him that telleth them, (Jer. xxxiii. 13.)
surely it is not stretching the Scripture to say,
that the Shebeth of Jehudah is as eminently de-
scriptive of the greatness of his character, when
446
speaking of this use of it, in writing, as in ruling,
for sovereignty is implied in both. And the
poor feeble hand that is now writing these lines,
(earnestly begging forgiveness if he errs in the
matter) cannot conclude this article without first
saying, (and will not the reader for himself also
join in the petition ?) Oh, that the almighty Jehudah
may have graciously exercised the Shebeth of his
power, and written my poor name, worthless as it
is, among the millions he hath marked down in
the book of life ! Amen.
JUDAH. The land of Judah. When this is
named in Scripture, as distinguished from Israel,
it is meant thereby to denote that the kingdoms
were divided. The kingdom of the ten tribes, or
Samaria, was distinct from Judah. It formed a
decided character concerning Judah, that this king-
dom retained a reverence for the true religion, and
the priesthood, and the law, at a time when the
ten tribes were following idolatry. It were need-
less to remark after what was said before con-
cerning Judah, that the name means, the praise
of the Lord.
JUDE or JUDAS. There were two of this name
well known in the Scriptures of the New Testament,
the one an apostle of Christ, called in Matthew's
gospel, (chap. x. 3.) Lebbeus, whose surname was
Thaddeus, and by Luke, the brother of James ;
and he is again noticed by the persons who thought
slight of our Lord and his doctrine, as his brother,
Matt. xiii. 55. This was the Judas which spake to
Christ in the midst of our Lord's sermon, and said,
" Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us, and not unto the world ?" (John xiv. 2*2.)
He is the Jude to whom, under the Holy Ghost,
we are indebted for that precious morsel of gospel
truth which is contained in the Epistle that bears
447
his name. The other Jude or Judas is he who
was sumamed Barsabas, (see Acts xv. 22.) and
who was commissioned by the apostles to go to
ihe church at Antioch. We have the account of
his journey in the same chapter, ver. 30, &c.
There is another Judas different from both the
former, mentioned Acts ix. 11. Lastly, Judas
Iscariot, the traitor. Some read it " Ish-cariot,
the man of carioth ; but certainly more properly
Tsh and corath, the man of murder. See Iscariot.
The awful character of this man is related to us
so fully in the gospels, that there can need no-
thing more than a reference to those sacred re-
cords to obtain the most complete account of him,
together with his tremendous doom : for what can
more fully decide the everlasting ruin of the
traitor than the Lord Jesus's account of him,
when summing up all in one the most finished
picture of misery, Jesus saith u good were it for
that man,if he had never been born!" (Mark xiv. 11.)
It hath been a subject of some debate in the
early church respecting Judas Iscariot, whether he
did or did not receive the Lord's Supper. Some
have insisted upon it that he did, and others, equally
positive, have asserted that he did not. The
best way to determine the point, will be to regard
what the Evangelists have said upon the sub-
ject ; for it must be from their testimony alone
a right judgment can be formed. I shall there-
fore, bring each of them in their relation concern-
ing this matter before the reader, and then leave
it to his own determination which opinion to
take. Matthew gives a particular account of
the whole proceedings of the Supper from first
to last, chap. xxvi. 20 — 30, and expressly states
that when the even was come, " Jesus sat down
with the twelve : " consequently Judas was included.
448
And so unconscious were the rest of the disciples
who the traitor was, when the Lord at the table in-
timated that one of them should betray him, that
they were exceeding- sorrowful, and began to say
unto him every one, Lord, is it I ? and when the
Lord to the enquiry of Judas declared that he
was the person, there is nothing said of his depar-
ture, but that the Lord proceeded to bless the
bread and the cup, and said, " Drink ye all of it."
After the supper, when they had sung- an hymn,
they went out into the mount of Olives. This is
the whole relation as given by Matthew. Mark
states the circumstances very nearly to the same
amount; the fourteenth chapter, from the twelfth
to the twenty-sixth verse. This evangelist ob-
serves, that prior to the supper Judas had been
with the chief priests, and covenanted with them
to betray Christ unto them. This however did
not prevent him from mingling with the other dis-
ciples s.tthe table, for Mark saith, that in the even-
ing Jesus "came with the twelve ; " and he adds,
that "as they sat and did eat" Jesus intimated the
circumstance ofoneofthera betraying him. But
from this evangelist's account it doth not appear,
that any discovery was then made of the traitor,
neither is there the least idea afforded as if Judas
was not present at the whole supper.
Luke is yet more particular in his account of the
supper. (See Luke xxii. 14 — 39.) He saith, that
when the hour was come, Jesus sat down, and
* the twelve apostles with him." And what is
much to the point in respect to the question now
under consideration, this evangelist, in his state-
ment of this memorable transaction, represents
the Lord as proceeding to the supper, and giving
both the bread and the cup to them before he
intimated the presence of the traitor. So that,
449
according' to this relation of the subject, the
Supper was finished when Jesus declared concern-
ing- the act of betraying him. John hath said
nothing of the Supper itself, except he had respect
to it in the opening of the thirteenth chapter of
his Gospel. The reason, no doubt, of his silence
was, that as the other evangelists had related the
circumstances so particularly, and his gospel
being principally intended as supplementary, to.
record those things of the Lord Jesus which they
had omitted, there needed not again the account
of the transactions of the Supper. But if the
evangelist meant the Lord's Supper in the Pass-
over, when he said, (chap. xiii. 2.) " And supper
being ended, the devil having now put into the
heart of Judas lscariot, Simon's son, to betray
him " — if this was the sacramental supper, then
it will follow that all that is subsequent in this
chapter was also subsequent to the service.
And as the evangelist John saith also in this same
chapter, that it was after the sop which Jesus
gave him, as a token of the traitor, that " Satan
entered into him," then must it have been after the
supper. Such are the several relations given by
the several evangelists on this memorable point.
The reader will now judge for himself, when he
hath duly considered the whole taken together.
But I cannot see the very great importance of
the question, whether Judas lscariot did or did
not receive the Lord's Supper. Put the case that
he did — what did he receive ? Nothing, surely,
more than the mere outward sign. He had no
part or lot in the matter. He had no union with
Christ, and consequently no communion with him
in the ordinance. For as the apostle justly and
decidedly states it, " what concord hath Christ with
Belial ? " (2 Cor. vi. 15.) Judas being present at
vol. vi. 2 ci
450
the table, and partaking- of the elements of the
table, became neither benefited himself, nor was
it injurious to others. We read in earlier periods
of the church, that " when the sons of God came
to present themselves before the Lord, Satan
came also among' them." (Job i. 6.) But was the
meeting unhallowed to the sons of God because
the devil came in the midst? Were the apostles
of Christ less apostles because Judas was u num-
bered with them, and had obtained part of this
ministry?" (Acts i. 17.) And surely if the Lord
Jesus, well knowing as he did whom lw had
chosen, was pleased to number him for a time
with the apostles, might he not for a time also
allow him to sit down with the apostles at the
same table ? Yea, did not the Lord Jesus ex-
pressly tell the church, that these things were
his own appointment, and perfectly known in all
their consequences by his divine mind, when he
said, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you
is a devil?" (John vi. 70.) If choosing Judas to
be an apostle, at the time Christ knew that he was
a devil, did not in the least contaminate the rest
ofthe apostles, neither injure the cause of Jesus,
it must undeniably follow, that his being present
at the supper could not pollute the supper, nor
the faithful partakers of the supper. These things
can never be injured by outward causes. The
" precious and the vile " must necessarily in this
world be often brought together, but the ordinance
can receive no taint from the worthlessness of par-
takers. Ordinances of every kind, like the gospel
itself, will prove " a savour of life unto life "unto some,
whilst "a savour of death unto death" unto others.
Here lies the grand discriminating mark, " the Lord
knoweth them that are his." (2 Tim. ii. 19.) And
while the Lord knoweth them that are his, he no less
451
knoweth them that are not. And we have already
left upon record, the awful sentence which will
be read to all such in the great day of God.
" Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and
drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our
streets. But he shall say, I tell you I know ye
not whence ye are ; depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity." (Luke xiii. 2(i, 27.) Indeed, may
we not go farther, and suppose, that from this very
appointment the Lord intended special good to
his people ? Was it not in effect saying, that
if in the instance of the Lord Jesus himself a
Judas is permitted, yea, appointed to attend his
person, can it be wondered at in the minglings up
of life, that his people should be so exercised?
If in the college of apostles, out of twelve persons
one should be a devil, can his people complain
that they are sometimes called " to dwell with
Mesech, and to have their habitation among the
tents of Kedar ? " Did Jesus, the Lord of life
and glory, who might have commanded twelve
legions of angels to attend him, permit, yea, even
appoint a known devil to be his servant, to be
with him in his miracles and his ministry, yea, to
be one of the party at his farewell supper — and
what doth the meek and gentle Saviour teach
thereby all his tried ones upon earth but this, that
in their intercourse with the graceless they are
to call to mind the unequalled humblings of Jesus
in such instances. If he endured such a contra-
diction of sinners against himself, they are not to
be wearied nor faint in their mind. The most
blessed purposes are in the design. It hath been
so in the church of God from the beginning, and
will continue so unto the end. In the family of
Adam there was a Cain ; in Noah's house there
was an Ham ; Isaac had his Esau as well as
2 g 2
452 J U
Jacob ; and, above all, the Lord Jesus had Judas.
Tares are in the church as well as the pure
wheat ; and it is Jesus himself that saith, u Let
both grow together unto the harvest." But then
when the harvest comes, the final and everlasting
separation takes place ; then it will be no longer
needful lhat characters so very opposite should
dwell together. " Then will I say (saith the Lord
Jesus) to the reapers, Gather ye together first
the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them :
but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt. xiii.
30.)
I cannot dismiss the view we have taken of this
subject without making one short observation more
on the occasion, namely, to remark how ill-judged
it is in our reading the Scriptures hastily to leap to
conclusions, and to frame our opinions according
to our supposed fitness of things, and not by the
standard of the divine word. Assumingitfor granted
that Jesus, who knew the hearts of all men, neither
needed that any should shew him, would not have
permitted Judas to partake of his supper, they
insantly leap to a conclusion, that it could not be,
and decide upon it accordingly. We are told by
Chrysostom, that a similar offence was taken in his
days, by some weak and injudicious Christians, at
that sweet passage in St. John's Gospel, (chap,
xi. 35.) where it is said, that Jesus wept. Con-
cluding, that it was unsuitable and unbecoming the
person and dignity of the Lord Jesus to be affected
with human passions, they struck it out of their
Bibles. But it was happy for us, and the christian
world at large, that when striking it out of their
Bibles they could not strike it out of ours. Blessed
be the Lord for presiding over his word, and pre-
serving to us the sweet passage ; for surely, to all
true believers in Jesus, such views of Jesus are
among the loveliest and most endearing parts in his
j it m
divine character. Nothing- can be more soothing
aud consolatory to a poor, sorrowful, afflicted fol-
lower of the Lord Jesus in his hours of suffering-,
than the consideration that he who is now exalted
at the right hand of the majesty on high, was once,
when on earth, "a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief." And the highest possible relief to the
anguish of the soid under temptation, is the consci-
ousness of the sympathy and compassion of Christ.
He who wept when upon earth in beholding the
tears of his people, cannot be unfeeling of them
now though in heaven. And we have authority to
conclude, that this sweet feature in the character
of Jesus is as much his as ever; "in that he bath
suffered, being tempted, he knoweth how to succour
them that are templed."
Let me only beg to add one observation more in
relation to the traitor Judas, and then take a final
farewell of his history forever; namely, concerning
the awful death of the man, and the judgments that
followed in his bowels gushing out. One of the
evangelists saith, that he hanged himself. (Matt,
xxvii. 3 — 5.) And another adds, " that falling head-
long, he burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed
out." (Acts i. 18, 19.) Both events, no doubt,
took place : and as by the suffocation induced by
hanging, a great swelling might most probably take
place, when he fell, the rupture of the lower part of
the belly, called the abdomen, gave way, and the
bowels gushed out. Think, what a spectacle !
How justly the object of detestation both to God and
man! And think if possible what followed. — To all
the tremendous miseries of eternity he had to add,
the special and peculiar aggravation in the ever-
lasting and unceasing thought — that he, of all the
creation of God, had this worm of conscience that
never dieth, to prey upon him to all eternity, that he
it was that betrayed the Lord of life and glory.
454
JUDGE and JUDGMENT. Every one perfectly
understands what is meant both by judge and judg-
ment. I should not have thought it necessary,
therefore, to have swollen the bulk of The Poor
Man's Concordance by noticing the terms, had the
mere explanation been the only thing intended. I
have higher objects in view. I wish, while direct-
ing the reader both to the judgment that is to follow
the present life, and the Judge who is to preside at
the grand tribunal, to offer a short remark with an
eye to the Lord Jesus Christ upon those subjects
which under grace will not fail, I hope, to be pro-
fitable. Jn respect to the Judge, the Scriptures
with one voice concur to assure us, that Christ is to
be the Judge both of quick and dead. This, among
other characters of our Lord, is one which he is to
exercise as his own personal and peculiar right.
"For the Father judgeth no man, (it is said,) but
hath committed all judgment to the Son : that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the
Father." (John v. 22, 23.) Jesus, and Jesus only,
could be the proper person to possess this honour.
He who undertook and accomplished man's redemp-
tion, hath by right a power to be the Judge of man ;
and, indeed, it is expressly said, that the Father
hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
" because he is the Son of man." (John v. 27.) Ob-
serve the expression — because he is the Son of
man ! Not because he is the Son of God ; for in
that case no authority could be given to him, for he
possesseth in common with the Father and the
Holy Ghost all supreme and eternal power. But
as the Son of man he receives this power, and it
becomes the suited reward of his labours, and suf-
ferings, and death. And what a beautiful order
and harmony there is in this appointment as well
as grace and mercy to his people. He who once
J U 455
came to save, will one day come to be our Judge ;
he who then acted as our Redeemer, will then appear
as our Sovereign and our King. And what tends
infinitely to endear the Lord Jesus under all these
characters is, that while he carries on the authority
of the one he never forgets the tenderness of the
other. In him is most blessedly blended the judge
and the brother. See those Scriptures. (Gen. xviii.
25. Deut. xxxii. 36. Dan. vii. 9— 14. Matt. xxv.
31—46. Acts. x. 42. Rev. xx. 11. to the end.)
And while we thus contemplate Jesus as our
Judge, and the judgment seat his, we find another
sweet consolation arising out of it, in that when he
comes to "judge the world in righteousness, and
to minister true judgment unto the people," he
comes to confirm what hath already passed respect-
ing his redeemed, and not to try, but to declare his
justification of their persons and state before God.
All true believers in Christ are in a justified state
now before God, in his blood and righteousness ;
and therefore they cannot come then into any con-
demnation. The solemn events of that great day of
God, as they concern the believer, are not left to
the smallest state of suspense. They have already
found pardon in the blood of the cross; they have
passed from death to life. " There is therefore, now
(saith the apostle) no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. viii. I.) And if there
be no possibility of condemnation, there can be no
issue of trial. Washed in the blood of Christ while
upon the earth, they will be found without spot and
blameless then at the court of heaven : clothed in
the robe of Jesus's righteousness now, it is impos-
sible to be found naked then. Awful, therefore, as
the process of that day may be, (and most tremen-
dously awful it will be to the unregenerate and
unredeemed) yet to the saints of God it is called,
456
and must be found, " the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Tit.
ii. 13.) Jesus comes "to be glorified in his saints, and
to beadmired inall them that believe." (Thess. i. 8,
9, 10.) Sweet, consoling, and soul-reviving thought
to the believer! Some of the blessed words Jesus
will speak to his people are already upon record,
and should often comfort them now, as they will
ravish them then. " Then will the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my
father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world." (See Matt. xxv. 34.
Luke xxii. 28—30.)
JUDGES. The judges which governed in Israel were,
from the death of Joshua until the Israelites de-
manded a king over them, and Saul was appointed,
a period of about three hundred and thirty-nine
years. They were called in Hebrew Shophatim.
The Book of the Judges is supposed to have been
written by Samuel. Some have thought that the
Sanhedrim, which was a council consisting of se-
venty elders, always presided beside those judges,
and regularly continued from the time of the Lord's
appointment (see Num. xi. 16, 17.) until the days
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there doth not seem
to be sufficient foundation for this belief. During the
Babylonish captivity such a thing was hardly possi-
ble ; neither during the reign of the kings before
the captivity, do we meet with any account of the
Sanhedrim. That such a court subsisted in the time
of our Lord is certain, and continued until the de-
struction of the temple.
We have but little account in Scripture concern-
ing this Sanhedrim. That this court, composed of
seventy persons, possessed great power, even in
the days when the Jews were under tribute to the
Romans, is certain. But though they contended
457
with Pilate, in their wishes for the death of Christ,
that they had a law, yet we do not find, excepting
upon this occasion, any mention made of its exer-
cise. It seemed to have been but the mere shadow
of authority ; for the whole substance was taken
into possession by the Roman Governor.
JUST ONE. A well-known name and character of the
Lord Jesus Christ: (Acts iii. 14; vii. 52.) See
Christ.
JUSTIFIER. A well-known name and character of
God the Father. (Rom. iii. 36.) See Father.
JUSTIFY. The act of God's free grace, whereby he
freely pardons the sinner, andjustifies him in Christ,
notwithstanding all his own unworthiness and trans-
gressions ; delivering him both from the guilt of
sin, the dominion of sin, and the punishment due to
sin ; accepting him in Christ, and thus blessing him
in and through the finished salvation of Jesus Christ
oui* Lord. (Gal. iii. 8.) See Impute.
JUSTUS. One of Paul's acquaintance. (Col. iv. 11.)
JUTTAH. A city of Judah. (Josh. xv. 55.) The name
means perhaps, to spread; from Natah.
IZHAR. The son of Kohath and father of Korah,
(Num. iii. 19 ; xvi. 1.) The name signifies light, from
Itzar.
K
KABZEEL. There was a city in the south of Judah
called by this name. (Josh. xv. 21.) The word is
compounded ofKabatz,to assemble — and El, God.
KADESH. A place in the desert of Zin, (Num. xx. 1.)
The name means, holy or holiness.
KADESH-BARNEA. Travellers are at a loss to de-
termine whether the original Kabesh we read of
Gen.xiv. 7.isthesame with the Kadesh, Num.xiii.26.
458
And it is not clearly accounted for, wherefore
Barnea was added to it. The term Kadesh
means holy. Barnea is a compound of Bar, a son —
and Nuah, one who is moving about. Perhaps
Barnea might have been given to Kadesh, from the
frequent movings about of Israel while in the wil-
derness state. And in this sense the name was well-
termed, and may be said of the church always on
earth. Oh ! that our journeyings might be ever to
Kadesh, and always as Kadesh; for surely as
Moses said, so in Jesus it may be said of the church
now, "ye are an holy people unto the Lord thy
God." (Deut. vii. 6.) It was at Kadesh Miriam died.
Here also was the memorable rebellion of Israel
concerning water ; and here the Lord's grace not-
withstanding that rebellion. (See Num. xx. 1 — 13.
Ps. cvi. 32, 33.)
KADMIEL. The name of one of the captives return-
ed from Babylon. (Ezra ii. 40.) If the word be
derived, as it should seem likely to be, from Kadem,
ancient, then is meant by Kadmiel, the ancient of
God. Hence the Kadmonites, or ancient inhabi-
tants of the east.
KEDAR. The son of Ishmael. (Gen. xxv. 13.) His
name signifies, blackness. The posterity of Kedar
dwelt in the deserts called Arabia-deserta, (Isa. xlii.
11.) and their employment was chiefly that of keep-
ing cattle. They dwelt in tents made of hair cloth,
which from the alternate heat of the scorching sun,
and heavy rains beating on them, gave a dirty
blackness rather forbidding to the eye of the tra-
veller. And this may serve to explain to us, in
some measure, those passages in Holy Writ in which
the church complains of her sorry appearance.
" Woe is me, that I am constrained to dwell with
Mesech, and to have my habitation among the
tents of Kedar." (Ps. cxx. 5.) The expression is
459
figurative, meaning-, that in this world a child of
God finds himself not at home, nor those with whom
he sojourns favourable to the promotion of the work
of grace in the heart; and hence the soul goes lean
from day to day, and to her own view appears
wretched and black, like the tents of Kedar.
The spouse in the Canticles makes use of a simi-
lar expression in relation to herself, while taking-
comfort from the consciousness how differently she
appeared in the eyes of her Lord from his beauty
put upon her. " I am black, but comely, O ye
daug-hters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as
the curtains of Solomon." (Song i. 5.) And the whole
doctrine is blessedly explained Ezek. xvi. 1 to 14.
Indeed, the spouse's figure of the black tents of
Kedar, and the golden curtains of Solomon, that
is, the wretchedness of a desert, and the rich tapes-
try of a palace, is very obvious. Believers, consi-
dered in themselves, and carrying about with them,
as they do, a body of sin and death, are always black.
Hence mount Sinai covenant is represented as a dis-
pensation, like.the mountitself, of blackness and dark-
ness and terror; because it set forth that dread of
conscience which filled the mind when under a consci-
ous sense of having broken it. On the other hand, the
covenant of promise full of grace and mercy, giving
as it doth, a joy and peace in believing to the soul,
lightens the countenance, and makes the child of
God comely. The apostle Paul hath beautifully set
these things forth in his allegory. (Gal. iv. 22 to the
end.) I only add, how blessed it is to have such
views as the church had, in one and the same mo-
ment, of ourselves. Considered in nature, we are
black as the tents of Kedar ; viewed in grace,
comely as the curtains of Solomon ; and still going
humble and softly all our days, from the consci-
ousness of the remains of indwelling corruption ;
460
still taking- comfort in the assurance, that we are
K beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, and ter-
rible as an army of banners." (Song vi. 4.)
KEDEMAH. One of the sons of Ishmael: he was the
last of the twelve princes which the Lord promised
to give to Ishmael. (See Abraham's prayer, and
the Lord's answer, Gen. xvii. 18 — 20. com-
pared with Gen. xxv. 13 — 16.) The name of Ka-
demah, it should seem, is taken from Kedem, or
the east. And in confirmation of it, it is remarkable
that the account given of the journeying after the
flood is expressed by this term, " they journeyed
from Kadem," or as the margin ofthe Bible renders
it, " they journeyed eastward." (Gen. xi. 2.)
KEDESH NAPHTALI. So called from being given
to that tribe. (Josh. xix. 37.) See Kadesh-barnea.
KEEPER. One of the gracious offices of the Lord.
All the persons of the Godhead have this blessed
name and character applied to them in the Scrip-
tures of truth ; but it should seem to have a pecu-
liar reference to the person of God the Father.
Hence the Lord Jesus, with inexpressible sweet-
ness, consigns the case of his church to his Father
in the night before his sufferings and death. "Keep,
Holy Father, (saith Jesus) through thine own name,
those whom thou hast given me." (John xvii. 12.)
So again the same or a similar request is made,
ver. 15. so also Ps. cxxi. 5. And the Holy Ghost,
by Moses the man of God, when giving directions to
Aaron to bless the people, appointed this form in
reference to the Father. (See Num. vi. 24. see
also Isa. xxvii. 3.) And certainly there is a blessed-
ness in the thought, that the church in Jesus is the
continued object of the Father's love and care. And
what an asylum do believers find in the view, that
all the attributes of Jehovah are engaged for the
security and comfort of his people. What the Lord
said to Abraham is in effect said, and from the
same cause, to all his seed : " Fear not, Abraham, I
am thy shield, and thine exceeding great reward."
(Gen. xv. 1.)
KEILAH. A town of Judah. (Josh. xv. 44.) The
word is compounded of Kol, a voice; and Jah, the
Lord. — The voice of the Lord.
K EMUEL. Son of Nahor. (Gen. xxii. 21.) If it be de-
rived from Kum, to arise ; and El, God, the sense
is, God hath raised.
KENITES. A people that dwelt with the Amalekites :
so called from Kanah, a possession. Jethro, the
father-in-law of Moses, was of this people. (1 Sam.
xv. 6.)
KETURAH. Abraham's handmaid. (Gen. xxv. L) The
name means, to burn, from Kather.
KEZIAH. One of Job's daughters, (Jobxlii. 14.) from
Katza, or bassia, meaning, a sweet-scented plant.
KEY. I should not think it necessary to notice this,
the thing is so familiar, were it not that the Lord
Jesus hath condescended to use the figure with re-
ference to his grace and power. He calls himself
the " Key of David,who openeth and none shutteth ;
who shutteth and none openeth." (Rev. iii. 7. Isa.
xxii. 22 ) It it blessed to see in how many ways
the Lord manifests the supremacy of his power. He
hath the key of heaven, to admit whom he pleaseth :
he hath the key of hell, to shut up all his foes ; he
hath the key of his word, to unfold the mysteries of
his kingdom ; he hath the key of the heart, to open
it, and to render that word effectual. Hence, in all
things, from the highest heaven to the lowest hell,
Jesus governs. What a sweet thought for all his
redeemed to cherish ! He it is that opens his church,
opens the mouth of his ministers and the souls of
his saints, opens the opportunities of ordinances,
and gives blessings to ordinances, and the several
462
means of grace upon earth, and finally, fully, and
completely opens an entrance for all his redeemed
into his everlasting- kingdom in heaven. Gracious
Lord Jesus, " open thou mine eyes, that I may see
the wondrous things of thy law!"
KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH. (Num. xi. 31, 35.) The
margin of our Bibles very properly renders this
name by the graves of lust ; perhaps from Kerab,
turning up, or ploughing. The readers of the Bible
may find much spiritual profit from contemplating
the graves of lust. Here, we may say, as we tread
the ground in idea, and tread over the ashes of those
lusters, here are the sad records and monuments
of those whose examples teach us the effect of dying
martyrs to the indulgence of corrupt passions. It
is to find death in the pot, when we seek that from
the creature which the Creator only can supply.
Oh, how many Kebroth-hattaavahs doth the present
world afford, as well as the wilderness to Israel !
K1DRON. See Cedron.
KING. There is somewhat very blessed in eyeing
the Lord Jesus in this character. His church must
always find in this view of their Lord a very high
satisfaction. His is the blessed office, in this royal
character, to govern, rule, maintain, support, to
pardon, reward, countenance, favour, and bless all
his kingdom. He hath indeed made all his kings
and priests to God and the Father. And what a
rapturous thought is it to recollect, that his kingdom
is for ever, and his dominion that which shall have
no end ! While we behold the Lord Jesus in this
exalted point of view, it becomes an interesting
enquiry of the soul, whether we are subjects of his
kingdom. (See Rom. vi. 16.)
KINGDOM OF CHRIST. By the kingdom of Christ
is meant, his mediatorial kingdom, as the head of
his body the church ; and though this supreme
4C3
power and glory of the Lord Jesus hath undoubt-
edly its foundation in his eternal power and God-
head, inasmuch that had he not been one with the
Father over all, God blessed for ever, he never
could have formed this kingdom as Mediator, yet
his sovereignty, as the glorious Head of his church
is distinct from that kingdom of his oneness in the
Godhead with the Father and the Holy Ghost.
His kingdom of Mediator is a kingdom given. to
Christ. As God he had a natural right to it, and
it could not be given to him ; but as Christ, God-
man in one person, he hath a gifted right, and an
acquired right, by virtue of which it becomes his.
And most blessed it is to eye the Lord Jesus in
this his kingdom, and to behold the furniture of
this kingdom, when brought to see our interest in
it. AH the blessings that belong to a kingdom con-
stitute Christ's kingdom : all temporal, all spiritual,
all eternal blessings. Every thing in grace here,
and glory to all eternity, are his to bestow upon
his people. Blessedly Jesus spake of this to the
Father, in that comprehensive manner : (John
xvii. 2.) K As thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." So that to speak of this
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in a comprehen-
sive manner, he hath universal, unceasing, unchang-
ing, and everlasting supremacy, in the kingdom of
grace here, and glory to all eternity. How beauti-
fully doth the apostle speak of the privilege of
ail the happy subjects of this kingdom, when he
saith, " wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably, with reverence and
godly fear." (Heb. xii. 28. See Exod. xix. 6. John
xviii. 36. Luke i. 33.)
KINSMAN. This is a sweet and precious name when
464
applied to the person of the Lord Jesus, and full
of very blessed signification as relating- to the church
of God in him. In order to enter into a proper
apprehension of its delightful meaning-, it will be
necessary to remark, that sometimes the same word
which we translate kinsman is also translated Re-
deemer. Thus Ruth iv. 14. " Naomi saith, Blessed
be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day with-
out a kinsman. (Goel.)" In the margin of the Bible
the same word Goel is translated Redeemer ; there-
fore, the sense is, hath not left thee this day without
a Redeemer. So again Job xix. 25. " For I know
that my Redeemer liveth." In the original it is the
same word Goel, meaning kinsman, Redeemer. So
once more, (Isa. xliv. 6.) the same word Goel, which
is rendered kinsman in Ruth, is rendered Redeemer
here. — "Thus saith the Lord, king of Israel, and
his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts." Hence, there-
fore, from these and the like passages, it is blessed
to see that one and the same person is all along
spoken of under both characters, our kinsmau, Re-
deemer.
Having premised these things by way of illus-
tration, it will be proper next to enquire, what was
the special relation and duty of the kinsman in the
church of God, and how was the office to be per-
formed. To answer this enquiry it should be ob-
served, that the right of redemption belonged to
this kinsman, for thus the law enjoined : "If thy
brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some
of his possession, and if any of his kin come to
redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his
brother sold." (Lev. xxv. 25.) And hence we find
in the case of Ruth the Moabitess, the right of re-
demption founded upon this law was first proposed
to the kinsman that was nearest of kin, and upon
his refusal Boaz claimed the privilege as the next
465
of kin. The reader may see this stated at large
very particularly Ruth. iv. 1 — 12.
Now then we come to the marrow of the whole
subject, as it relates to the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the redemption of our nature.
Jesus, by virtue of taking- our nature, becomes the
nearest of kin to our nature, and is, to all intents
and purposes, our Goel, our kinsman, Redeemer.
He is the brother born for adversity, and is not
ashamed to call us brethren. Now as Jesus's poor
brother, our whole nature was waxen poor, and had
by sin and rebellion sold away some of oar posses-
sion, and had both brought our souls into captivity
and mortgaged our inheritance, to him alone be-
longed the right of redemption for both ; and Jesus
hath fulty and completely rede.emed both. Hence
he hath proved himself to be our Goel in the full
sense of the word, our kinsman, and our Redeemer,
and our kinsman-Redeemer ; and very blessed it
is to know the Lord Jesus Christ in those united
characters. Job found it so in an eminent degree ;
and so ought all the faithful. "I know (said he)
that my (Goel, my kinsman) Redeemer liveth, and
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth :
and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom 1 shall see
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold for myself,
and not another forme." (Job xix. 25, 26.) Reader!
if you can join the man of Uz in this precious tes-
timony, and his creed and your creed on this great
point are the same, you will enter into the beauty
and blessedness of this relationship of kinsman as
belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ, and enjoy the
privilege of it in your heart. See Brother.
KIRHARASETH. A city of Moab. It is supposed
to mean, a place of heat. We know that Kir is
city ; and Haresh is sometimes put for brick or
vol. vi, 2 H
46C
baked. The prophet Isaiah saith, that his bowels
" sounded like an harp for Moab, and his inward
parts for Kei-haresh," which was the chief city of
Moab. (Isa. xvi. 11.) Whether the prophet's la-
mentation for Moab was from the ruin of it as a city,
(see 2 Kings iii. throughout,) or whether spiritually
considered, 1 know not. The city itself was cer-
tainly fertile, and the whole country of Moab de-
lightful for fruits and vineyards, which historians
tell us extended even to the borders of the Dead
Sea. Such was our nature originally, like the
garden of Eden ; and who but must lament to be-
hold the ruin by the fall. Oh, the blessedness of
that recovery by the Lord Jesus Christ !
KIRJATH. A city, Josh, xviii. 28.
KIRJ ATHAIM. Two cities so called, Josh. xiii. 19.
KIRJATH-ARBA. The city of four; Arba, four,
beingjoinedtoit, Josh. xv. 13. See Cities of Refuge.
KIRJATH-ARIM. The city of cities, Ezra. ii. 24.
KIRJATH-BAAL. The city of Baal, Josh. xv. 60.
KIRJATH-JEARIM. The city of woods, Josh.xv. 9.
so called from Jahar, a forest.
KIRJATH-SANNAH. The city of the bush, from
Senah, a bush, Josh. xv. 49.
KIRJ ATH-SEPHER. The city of the book or letters.
This was the portion which Joshua assigned to
Caleb, and it was called Debir before. See Josh,
xiv. 6, 7. and Judg. i. 10 — 13. What the ancient
inhabitants meant by the name of Debir, meaning
words, is not so generally understood. Some have
thought it had relation to certain records deposited
there, but there is not the smallest authority for
this opinion.
KISH. There were several of this name in Scrip-
ture. (See 1 Sam. ix. 1. 1 Chron. viii. 30. 2 Chron.
xxix. 12.) The word itself simply means somewhat
hard.
467
KISHON. The river so beautifully spoken of in
Deborah's song, Judg. v. 21, Perhaps the name
is derived from Kish. This river was but small : it
arose in the valley of Jezreel, and passed on to the
south of mount Tabor, emptying itself in the Me-
diterranean Sea.
KISS. In the eastern world so much was implied
by this action of the kiss, that we lose many beau-
ties of the Holy Scriptures for want of our knowledge
of their customs and manners concerning it. There
were the kiss of love, the kiss of reverence, the kiss
of adoration and homage, the kiss of peace and re-
conciliation, the kiss of holy joy and delight ; and,
on the other hand, we read of the kiss of idolatry,
the kiss of hypocrisy, of deceit, of the traitor, and
the like.
It may not be amiss, for the better appre-
hension of the subject, to look over the Scripture
a little for particular instances of this ceremony,
that we may remark the diversity. I need not
particularize the kisses of natural affection, so
common in the word of God, between near and
dear relations ; for those are well understood, and
require no illustration. Such, I mean, as the
tender kiss of Isaac with Jacob, when receiving
his son's venison, Gen. xxvii. 26. Joseph kissing
his brethren, Gen. xlv. 14, 15. Jonathan with David,
1 Sam. xx. 41. and numberless other instances of
the like nature. But the kisses spoken of in
Scripture implying different significations, it may
not be improper to be somewhat more particular in
defining. Thus the kiss of reverence or adoration,
whether in religious veneration of Jehovah, or
whether used in idolatrous worship, was meant to
convey every thing that was dutiful, obedient, and
affectionate. Thus the direction given in the second
Psalm to kiss the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, evi-
2 h2
468 K I
dently conveys the acknowledgment due to his
person and government, with the most cordial ac-
ceptation of him in his glorious mediatorial cha-
racter as the Christ of God. (Ps. ii. 12.) On the
other hand, the prophet represents the worshippers
of Baal as commanding this service, in token of
absolute submission to this idolatrous worship as
expressed in this single act of kissing. " Let the
men that sacrifice (say they) kiss the calves." (Hos.
xiii. 2.)
Besides the actions of kissing to imply the most
complete adoration, we find among the orientals
the act of kissing the hand, together with the cor-
responding action of bending the knee, smiting
on the thigh, and the like, intended as expres-
sive altogether of the most implicit subjection and
reverence. (See Isa. xlv. 23. Jer. xxxi. 19.) Thus
we find Pharaoh giving commands concerning the
homage to be paid Joseph. " Thou shalt be over
my house, (said Pharaoh) and according to thy
word shall all my people be ruled." In the margin
it is, be armed or kiss: that is, shall all my people
kiss thy word, thy command. (Gen. xli. 40.) So
Job, "If I (said Job) beheld the sun when it
shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my
heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath
kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be pu-
nished by the judge, for I should have denied the
God that is above." (Job xxxi. 26—28.) A
similar passage we meet with in 1 Kings xix. 18.
where the Lord, in telling his servant the prophet
Elijah, that the idolaters in Israel, many as they
were, did not yet come up to the fears of his mind,
saith, " Yet 1 have left me seven thousand in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which hath not kissed him.''1
Both which passages are to the same amount, that
K I 469
the Iviss was a token of the most perfect adora-
tion.
We may notice the usage of the kiss also in
token of peace and friendship, and of the greatest
cordiality subsisting between persons joining in the
same sentiments of civil and religious communion.
Hence Paul directs the churches to this amount, when
he saith, u Salute one another with an holy kiss."
(Rom. xvi. 16.) "Greet all the brethren with an
holy kiss." (1 Thess. v. 26. 1 Pet, v. 14.)
This was supposed (however treachery lurked
under the garb), to have been the case when Joab
took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to
kiss him. (see 2 Sam. xx. 9.) And yet more, in an
infinitely greater degree, when Judas hailed Christ
with the awful salutation, Joy to thee Rabbi, (for
so hail means) and kissed him." (Matt, xxvi.49.)
In the former instance, Joab took Amasa by the
beard, we are told, which was an action betoken-
ing the highest regard of aifection : for as the
beard was always considered the chief honour and
ornament of a man, so to touch it or kiss it was
considered the highest proof of respect. On the
contrary, to shave it, or to do any thing to it re-
proachfully, was counted the highest token of con-
tempt. In the eastern world, many would have
preferred death to the loss of the beard: and hence
when David changed his behaviour before Achish,
king of Gath, and feigned himself mad, and scrab-
bled on the doors of the gate, and " let his spittle
fall down upon his beard," (see 1 Sam. xxi. 13.)
Achish considered this disgrace done to his beard
as the most confirmed proof of his madness, for no
man in his right senses, he concluded, would have
done so. For if by accident only, in walking the
streets, one touched another's beard, nothing could
atone for the injury and affront but by kissing- it,
470
K N
to show the utmost respect. So tenacious were
the orientals on these points.
I have not yet mentioned the kisses of grace in
spiritual tokens, and yet these form by much the
most interesting part of the subject. Hence the
spouse in the Canticles, speaking of her soul's
desire for the coming and manifestation of Christ
in the flesh, with all the blessings connected with
that manifestation, sums up her very ardent re-
quest in that comprehensive expression, " Let him
kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for his love is
better than wine." (Song i. 2.) And as those
kisses of Jesus are meant to imply every thing in
Christ, and with Christ, Jesus in his person, and
Jesus in his fulness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency,
so on our part the kiss of grace implies every
thing that can denote love, adoration, faith, de-
pendance, homage, subjection, and praise. Poor
Mary at the feet of Jesus meant to express all
these and more, when she washed his feet with her
tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head,
when she kissed his feet, and anointed them with
the ointment. (See Luke vii. 38.) In these kisses
she expressed all that a broken heart could testify
of her soul's hope, love, faith, contrition, sorrow,
and the like. It was in effect saying, I cast my-
self on thee, as a poor, perishing, dying sinner,
and venture all on thy blood and righteousness !
KNIFE and KNIVES. In the early ages of the
world, before that instruments of metal were form-
ed, the eastern inhabitants used sharp stones for
the purpose of cutting. Thus Zipporah took a
sharp stone for the circumcision of her son. (Exod.
iv. 25.) And' Joshua, at the command of the Lord,
made sharp knives for the same purpose. The
margin of the Bible saith, that they were " knives
of flints." (See Josh. v. 2, 3.) And as knives of
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47 1
stones were then La use, it is more than probable
that the earlier ages had none formed of better
materials. (Gen. xxii. 6.)
KOHATH. Son of Levi, Gen. xlvi. 11. signifies
congregation, from Karah.
KORAH. Son of Izhar, (Exod. vi. 21.) meaning
cold, from Karak. There were two others of this
name in Scripture, (Gen. xxxvi. 15.) and the fa-
mous, or rather infamous Korah, son of Izhar.
(Num. xvi. 1.)
KUSHAJAH or KISHI. The son of Abdi. (1 Chron.
xv. 17.) The name means, hardness, from Cashar,
chan ; and Jah, the Lord.
L
LAADAH. ThesonofShelah, IChron.iv. 21. The
signification of the name is ornament, from Hadah.
LAADAN. Son of Gershon, 1 Chron. xxiii. 7, 8. It
seems to be derived from Hadan, pleasure.
LABAN. The Syrian, son of Bethuel, brother to Re-
bekah, and father to Rachel, whose history forms
so interesting a page in Scripture from his connec-
tion with Jacob. (See Gen. xxviii. to xxxi.) His
name means, white.
LACHISH. A city south of Judah, Josh. x. 23. The
word signifies, she walks, from Jalac.
LAISH. Father of Phalti, 1 Sam. xxv.44. There
is a city of this name, Isa. x. 30.
LAKE. There are three lakes spoken of in Judea,
namely, the Asphaltites, Tiberias, and Semechon.
In the original we should read Bfer as a lake, or pit,
or cistern. In Palestine, we are told, they make
lakes for their wines. That passage in the Re-
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velations concerning the wine-press means a lake.
(Rev. xiv. 19,20.)
LAMA. Matt, xxvii. 40. (See Eli Eli.)
LAMB. It would have been needless to have paused
over this word, or inserted it in this place, but
from the very earnest and special use made of it in
reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, as typical of
his person and nature ; but considered with an eye
to him, nothing can be more interesting than to be-
hold how unceasingly the Holy Ghost is glorifying
our Lord under this beautiful figure through the
whole word of God.
Every one knows the character of a lamb :
among all the creatures of God there are none so
harmless, inoffensive, meek, and gentle as the
lamb. A lamb will receive injuries, but will offer
none. There is a loveliness in the tender lamb of
the fold which interests every beholder. In every
point the lamb is useful : its fleece affords covering,
and its flesh food ; both in life and death the lamb
is eminently profitable. Nothing could be more
happily chosen to depicture Christ Jesus in his im-
maculate holiness and purity ; his meekness, gen-
tleness, and patience, is indeed as the Lamb of God,
u for in his mouth was found no guile; who when he
was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, he
threatened not." He was "holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens." Well might it be said of him, that u he
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so opened he not his
mouth." (Isa. liii. 7.) And what endears Christ in
this lovely character, and which the typical repre-
sentation of the lamb eminently sets forth, he is
both the covering for his people, and their suste-
nance ; for his righteousness is their garment of sal-
vation, and " hisflesh is meat indeed, and his blood
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473
drink indeed." In every and all points of view, in
his designation as a sacrifice, he is "the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world." (Rev. xiii. 8.) In
his manifestation to Israel in the days of his flesh,
his humiliation unto death, and his exaltation to
glory, still is he the Lamb of God, and the Lamb
in the midst of the throne, the Christ of God, and
the salvation of God to every one that believeth.
The song of heaven is one and the same with the
hymn of earth : u Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing ;
for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood." (Rev. v. 9—12.)
LAMECH. The son of Methuselah, and father of
Noah, (See Gen. v. 25 — 31.) His name means
somewhat poor, or made low, from Macac. His
observation at the birth of Noah was remarkable.
"This same, said he, shall comfort us concerning
our work and toil of our hands." (Gen. v. 29.) The
Holy Ghost hath not given us authority to say it
was prophetical, but when we consider the emi-
nency of Noah, a preacher of Jesus, by faith,
(see Heb. xi. 7.) we may well suppose, that his
father's hopes concerning him sprang from some-
what more than nature. Creature-hopes and crea-
ture-prospects are for the most part deceitful, and
the more we lean upon them the feebler they
prove. I should hope, therefore, that Lamech's
hopes of his son Noah were on the church's account,
and had an eye to the covenant of grace.
There was another Lamech of the descendants of
Cain. (See Gen iv. 17, 18.) He appears to have
been the first who broke the divine~commandment,
by taking more wives than one. (See Gen. ii. 24.)
See the Lord's displeasure at this, Mai. ii.
14—16. And yet more particularly hear what the
474
Lord Jesus Christ saith upon this subject, Matt xix.
3 — 10. The names of his two wives are in some
measure descriptive of his sin and folly, for Adah
and Zillah compounded, would imply an assembly,
a shadow. It were well if the favourers of poly-
gamy would consider these things. The Lord
Jesus declares, that from the beginning it was not
so ; and perhaps in no one instance hath it been
free from sorrow. And as from an authority which
becomes unquestionable, the married state is de-
clared to be sacred, as typical of Christ's union
with his church, the abettors of double marriages
would farther do well to consider, what a running
counter this is to this blessed doctrine, as well as
to the original appointment of heaven. (See Ephes.
v. 23. to the end, 1 Cor. vii. 2.) See Concubine.
LAMENTATIONS. I only just notice in a cursory
way, the sweet Book of Jeremiah which bears this
name. The Jews called it Echa, or Kinnoth, which
is Lamentations. It is the mournful prophet's
elegy over the calamities of the beloved Jeru-
salem. And in after-ages how tenderly the Lord
Jesus wept over the same city, (Matt, xxiii. 37 — 39.)
But besides this, there is much of Christ
discoverable in it, indeed, though in the first face
of the book it refers to history, yet the chief beauty
of it is as prophetical of Christ and his church.
LAMP. Much is said in the holy Scripture con-
cerning the lamps of the temple. And when the
Lord Jesus appeared to John, he was seen in the
midst of the golden candlesticks (Rev. i. 12, 13.)
And John saw before the throne, at another vision,
seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
(Rev iv. 5.) See also Exod. xxv. 37 ; xxxvii. 23.
Num. viii. 2. Zech. iv. 2.) No doubt, that be-
sides the general use of lighting the temple, they
had a reference to spiritual things, and were
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475
meant as emblems of the illuminating and bright-
ening offices of God the Holy Ghost to the churches
and people. We know that this almighty Minis-
ter in the church of Jesus, acts as " a spirit of
judgment, and a spirit of burning." (Isa. iv. 4.)
And how blessedly he manifests the sovereignty
of is power in both " convincing of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment," the church of
God in all ages hath borne witness. Precious
are his sevenfold gifts, when by his gracious in-
fluence he penetrates the heart of the redeemed,
melting by his burning the frozen affections, soft-
ening and subduing the stubborn mind, and
making it willing in the day of his power. Oh,
what unknown influence doth the Holy Ghost
manifest in the hearts of those he makes his
temple ! (1 Cor. vi. 19.) what light, what grace,
what information, what comfort, the Lord the Spirit
imparts ! Oh, ye ransomed of the Lord, who know
the infinite preciousness of his grace, see that ye
"grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption ! " (Ephes.
iv. 30.)
I cannot dismiss the subject of the sacred lamps
of the temple, emblems as they were of the light
of the Spirit, without one observation more, name-
ly, that it should seem, the perpetual use of them
was designed to keep alive the remembrance of
his unceasing presence, who is the light of his peo-
ple. It is said in the history ol Samuel, u that ere
the lamp of God went out in the temple of the
Lord where the ark of God was, and Samuel was
laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel."
(1 Sam. iii. 3, 4.) Was not this emblematical of
the Spirit of prophecy, that before one lamp of the
Lord went out another should be lighted, before
Eli was quite extinguished Samuel should be
476
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kindled ? Do we not find it so through the church's
history in all ages? Did not the spirit of Elijah rest
on Elisha? Did not all the prophets succeed one
another in their ministry, as might best promote and
carry on the Lord's cause in the earth ? I do not
presume to speak decidely upon the subject, but if
the thought be right, is there not great sweetness in
that Scripture, explained in reference to this view,
and with an eye to the Lord Jesus ? " I have or-
dained a lamp for mine anointed. " (Ps. cxxxii.17.)
That lamps are constantly used figuratively in
Scripture, I need not insist upon. The Lord is
said to be the light of his people, (Ps. xxvii. 1. Job
xxix. 3.) and even his servants, shining by his
brightness, are spoken of by the same figure.
Thus David was called " the lamp of Israel, " 2 Sam .
xxi. 17. and John the Baptist said to be u a burning
and a shining light." (John v. 35.)
LANGUAGE. It is plain from Scripture, that in the
early ages of the world, " the whole earth was of
one language and of one speech.'1 (Gen. xi. 1.)
The diversity arose as a punishment for the build-
ing of Babel. It hath been a subject of more
curiosity than profit to enquirers from whence arose
the first communication of thought by speech, and
who taught men the use of language, or the power
to diversify sound for conveying ideas. Some have
gone so far, in order to ascertain what would be
the first articulation of a child untaught by hearing
others so as to express his own thoughts, that in-
fants have been kept from all hearing of conversa-
tion, purposely to discover what the first sounds of
speech whould be. But while men have thus em-
ployed their time and attention to the discovery of
what, even if it could have been attained, would
not have profited, the word of God teaches the
cause of speech in the great Giver of all good, and
477
the diversity of speech when the entrance of sin
into the world had made man rebellious. But what
a decided proof is this, among may, of the over-
ruling- power of God to cause good to spring- out
of evil, that as sin induced a confusion of languages,
grace rendered this very confusion a means for
the greater display of the riches of mercy in the
confirmation of the truth of the gospel; for by the
confusion at Babel, and the diversity of languages
that followed, what a blessed opportunity was there-
by afforded, when at the day of Pentecost, the
poor, ignorant, and unlearned disciples of Jesus
gave testimony of the truth by conversing with the
greatest fluency in no less than fifteen different lan-
guages to the different nations of the earth then
assembled at Jerusalem. So the Lord overruled
the sin of Babel to his own glory. (See
Acts ii. 1—11.)
LAODICEA. A city rendered famous from its con-
nection with Scripture history. (See Col. ii.l. and
iv. 16. See also Rev. i. 11. and iii. 14 — 22.)
What an awful consideration, that not a vestige of
this church remains, but the place where it stood
is now inhabited by infidels !
LAPIDOTH. The husband of Deborah,(Judg. iv. 4.)
The name, it should seem, means light, or en-
lightened, from Leppad.
LAST. One of the characters of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He who is the Alpha is also the Omega,
the first and the last, meaning that he is the first
cause and final end of all things. See Christ.
LATTICE. The manner of building in the east
differs so totally from the custom of other countries,
that it renders many parts of the word of God less
intelligible on this account. Dr. Shaw, in his travels,
hath given upon several occasions many circumstan-
tial particulars of the construction of their houses in
478
LA
Palestine, and, among the many, of their plan of the
lattices used in the terrace, and in the other parts
of their buildings. For the most part, the windows
open into their own courts, except a latticed win-
dow, or balcony, that for conveniency is formed to
look into the street. And this retirement and
secrecy forms a lively representation, suited to the
natural jealousy of the people. But the latticed
window, or balcony, formed the only opening for
communication (except the entrance) with the pub-
lic street. It was at this lattice-work window, most
probably, that Jezebel looked out at the time that
Jehu entered into Jezreel. (2 Kings ix. 30.) Now,
from this account, it is easy to apprehend the
beauty of that expression of the church concerning
the Lord Jesus, and the extent of that indulgence
he shewed her upon the occasion. u My beloved
(said she) standeth behind our wall, he looketh
forth at the windows, shewing himself through the
lattice." (Song ii. 9.) The manner in which the church
introduceth her observation, with a note of admira-
tion, behold ! speaks the high sense she had of the
condescending goodness of her Lord. There was
but this one opening from the house ; and such is
the retired privacy of all the inhabitants, that it is
only on special occasions the lattice window is
made use of. But such was my Lord's grace to-
wards me, (saith the church) that from hence, as
the most open place of communication, he shewed
himself to me. Though Jesus might be said to
stand behind our wall ; that is, perhaps, through a
vail of flesh, to manifest himself to his people while
on earth, and to look forth at the windows of his
grace ; that is, when in the ordinances of his word
he doth distinguish himself to them otherwise than
he doeth to the world ; yet, through those lattices,
he makes known what he is, and what his love to
479
his people is, and ever will be, until the shadows
flee away, and the day -break of the everlasting
morning shineth in upon the soul, and the sun of
his redeemed ariseth no more to go down, neither
the moon to withdraw his shining, but the Lord
himself beeometh their everlasting light, and their
God their glory. (Isa. lx. 19.)
LAW. See Testimony.
LAZARUS. It is to be supposed, that the Lazarus
of the New Testament, is a corresponding name to
the Eleazar of the Old. The name itself is a com-
pound of Hazar, help — and El, God. Lazar-houses
and Lazarettos, seem to have taken their name
from the Lazarus of the parable. (Luke xvi. 20.)
Lepers, and persons under diseases of a pes-
tilential or epidemic nature, were sent to them.
LEAH. The wife of Jacob. (Gen. xxix. 23.) Her
name, it should seem, meant weary.
LEAVEN. The leaven among the Jews, became an
object of much religious concern. They were
cautious that no leaven should be found in their
houses. (See Exod. xii. 15 — 19.) No doubt this
had a gospel signification, and was intended to
teach, that nothing would be permitted to leaven
or mingle with the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for acceptance before God.
LEBANON. A mountain famous in Scripture, and
highly celebrated: it separates Syria from Pa-
lestine. The name in Hebrew is Leban, and signi-
fies white — probably so called from the everlast-
ing snow covering the summit of it. The cedars
of Lebanon, and the streams from Lebanon, are
spoken of in highly figurative language, to intimate
the blessings in Christ. Hence the spouse in the
Canticles speaks of Jesus as "a fountain of gardens,
a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon."
(Song iv. 15.) And the idea is as beautiful as the
480
figure is just and correct : for as the cold flowing
waters which descend from the mountain of Le-
banon refresh the earth, and cool the hot climate,
and are very copious, and run with rapidity ; so the
grace of God in Christ Jesus, like the water of
life, runs freely, graciously, and abundantly, to
make "glad the city of God." So Christ himself is
said to be " as rivers of water in a dry place, and as
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." (lsa.
xxxii. 2.) Hence the prophet, exclaiming against
the folly of Israel's leaving the Lord, saith, u Will a
man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from
the rock of the field ; or shall the cold flowing
waters that come from another place be forgotten?"
(Jer. xviii. 14.)
LEBBEUS. One of the apostles of Christ. (Matt. x. 3.)
LEGJON. A Roman legion of six thousand men. If
the poor man possessed of a legion of devils was
thus numbered, what a state to contemplate ! (See
Mark v. 9.) I rather think the expression is of the
figurative kind, or, as the poor man himself saith, a
legion meant many. Our Lord meant the expres-
sion, no doubt, exactly as it is, when he said
" twelve legions of angels." (Matt xxvi. 53.)
LEPER and LEPROSY. I do not take upon me to
decide, whether the leprosy among the Jews dif-
fered from the Elephantiasis of other nations ; but
I venture to believe that it had somewhat of pecu-
liarity, from the account given of it in Scripture. It
was, without doubt, among the Hebrews, not only
a loathsome disease in itself, but was intended to
denote in the strongest characters the nature of sin
both original and actual. And this, I think, is plain,
from this one striking circumstance, namely, that it
was deemed an impious presumption of the prero-
gative of God, to attempt by any human means to
cure it. I refer the reader to the word of God for
481
the account of it, (Lev. xiii. and xiv.) both for the
nature of the disease, and the rites and sacrifices
appointed for the cleansing- ; all which very fully
prove the sad state of the leper, shut out of all civil
and religious communion, to testify, perhaps, the
odious nature of sin in the sight of God, and to set
forth, by the shadowy representations of washing
and sacrifice, that nothing but the blood of Christ
and the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost can
effect the cure of the leprosy of sin. What a beau-
tiful and endearing view have the evangelists given
of the tender mercy of the Lord Jesus, manifested
to that poor leper which came to Christ at the foot
of the mountain. (See Matt. viii. 2, 3. Mark i. 40.
Luke v. 12.) The poor man could have had no con-
ception, that Jesus in the cure would have done
what was never done before, put his hand upon
him: but, as it was sweetly said of Jesus, "himself
took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses ;" so
Christ, as if to shew the love of his heart and sympa-
thy to our poor nature, not only healed the leper,
but put forth his hand and touched him, (Matt,
viii. 17. Isa. liii. 4.) There is somewhat in such
views of Christ as tends to endear him in the highest
possible degree of endearedness, and which ought
never to be lost sight of in the mind of his people.
LEVI. The third son of Jacob and Leah — from
whence sprung the Levites. The name of Levi,
it should seem to have meant, one that is tied, per-
haps in reference to the office afterwards to be at-
tached to the Levites. The personal character
of Jacob's son Levi, occasioned the dying patriarch
to speak with displeasure concerning him. (See
Gen. xlix. 5 — 7.) And the prediction of this tribe
being divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel, was
literally ful lied ; for we find in the settlement in
Canaan, the sons of Levi had no share in the divi-
vol. vr. 2 I
482
sion of the land, but only certain cities among the
other tribes. Yet the Lord was graciously pleased
to choose this tribe for his own more immediate
service, and placed this highly honourable and
distinguished mark upon it: u At that time the Lord
separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the
covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to
minister unto him, and to bless in his name unto
this day : wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheri-
tance with his brethren ; the Lord is his inheritance,
according as the Lord thy God promised him. (Deut.
x. 8, 9.)
The services of the Levites, seem to have bee
a constant ministration in the temple We have
the account, Num. iii. They were subordinate to
the priests, and their consecration to their offices
was not with so much ceremony, (see Num. vii.
5 — 7.) nevertheless they were all of one tribe, (see
2Chron. xxix. 34.) Their provision was noble.
(Num. xxxv.)
I cannot close this article without desiring the
reader to take notice with me of the blessing of
Moses, the man of God, wherewith, amidst the
blessings he pronounced in the Lord's name on the
children of Israel before his death, he distinguished
Levi. (See Deut. xxxiii. 8.) * And of Levi he
said, let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy
Holy One, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and
with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Me-
ribah ; who said unto his father and unto his mo-
ther, I have not seen him, neither did he acknow-
ledge his brethren, nor knew his own children ;
for they have observed thy word, and kept thy
covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments,
and Israel thy law ; they shall put incense before
thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar.
Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of
483
his hands : smite through the loins of them that
rise against him, and of them that hate him, that
they rise not again."
Surely with an eye to Christ (though our Lord
sprang out of Judah, and not Levi, Heb. vii. 14.)
did Moses here, by the spirit of prophecy, declare,
that the Urim and the Thummim, that is, lights and
perfections, should be with Jehovah's Holy One.
The waters of Meribah was that memorable spot
where the people, soon after the children of Israel
came out of Egypt, did chide with Moses and
Aaron for want of water. (See Exod. xvii. 1 — 7.)
Here Moses and Aaron stemmed the torrent of the
people's anger ; and it should seem to have been in
allusion to this, that the man ofGod, speaking of Levi,
said, "whom thou didst prove, and didst find faith-
ful," who did not acknowledge the feelings of nature
when those calls of grace demanded faithfulness. See
another instance, (Exod. xxxii. 25 — 28.) The other
instance at Meribah, sets forth the frailty both of
Moses and Aaron : (see Num. xx. 1 — 13.) But
by taking into one view both instances at Meribah,
we are certainly constrained to look farther than
to the Aarons, or to all the sons of Levi, under the
Old Testament dispensation, for the accomplish-
ment of Moses's dying prediction, that the Urim
and Thummim of Jehovah might be with the Lord's
Holy One ; and to none can we make the smallest
application, but to the Almighty Aaron of " a better
covenant, established upon better promises." Levi
and his sons were all types of our Lord Jesus, Je-
hovAh's Holy One. With him are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; and with him
only could the Urim and Thummim be said to be,
and with him to be for ever ; for though the high
priest wore on his breast the representations of
the Urim and the Thummim, yet during the Baby-
2i 2
484
lonish captivity all this was done away, and never
after was it restored under the second temple.
Hence, therefore, in Christ alone could this be found,
and him alone could Moses mean. The prophecy
therefore, had a blessed fulfilment in Jesus, and in
him for ever. Here, reader, is brought the pure
incense, and that whole burnt sacrifice, Christ Jesus
upon Jehovah's altar ; even Christ himself, who is
both the New Testament altar of Jehovah, the high
priest, and the sacrifice. O Lord ! may we well
say, in making our responses to the prayer of Moses,
Bless, Lord, our Lord Jesus, the sum and substance
of all salvation : acoept the work of his hand,
the infinite merit of his whole redemption-work!
Let sin, Satan, death, and hell, be smitten all of
them through the centre, the very loins Of their
rebellion, and let all that hate our Jesus flee before
him ! Amen.
LEVIATHAN. In the book of Job we meet with
the mention of this huge creature, Job xli. Some
have supposed it the whale, and others the croco-
dile. The word itself is probably compounded of
Leviath, what is joined together — and Than, a
great fish. It should seem to be a specific word,
in allusion to this sea-monster, as if they said, there
is the leviathan, that is, the great fish, whose parts
are so closed together that nothing scarce can pierce
them. The sacred writers, in more than one in-
stance, make use of this name figuratively, to des-
cribe the devil and his ministers. Thus (Isa. xxvii. 1.)
" In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and
strong sword, shall punish the leviathan, the pierc-
ing serpent, even leviathan, that crooked serpent,
and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." The
great enemy of souls will be reckoned with in the
great day of God, and he shall be punished in due
time ; and subordinately to him, all the enemies of
LE
485
. the church of Christ, the leviathans, and dragons, and
serpents which act in the devil's name, and fight in his
cause, will come in also for their doom. So again the
Psalmist, speakingfiguratively,saith,(Ps.lxxiv. 14.)
" Thou brakest the head of leviathan in pieces, and
gavest him to be meat to thy people inhabiting
the wilderness :" meaning, that as in the Red Sea
the Lord overthrew and destroyed that type of the
devil, Pharaoh, so in the after-joumies of the people
during their wilderness state, whenever they were
put to wilderness straits, the recollection of the
Lord's deliverance of them in that memorable in-
stance, became meat for their faith to fesd upon.
He that had delivered them from so great a death,
they were taught to believe, did and would still
deliver them. It is blessed thus to feast upon past
mercies, when new ones are only coming on, and not
fully come. Every enemy subdued, every affliction
past, then becomes sanctified, when the Holy Ghost
as the Remembrancer of Christ Jesus, brings them
forth again to our recollection. Oh, how many le-
viathans, and serpents, and scorpions, have the
Lord's people, in the Lord's strength, contended
with and conquered during their short pilgrimage
state. Surely it may be said of the church now,
as well as of the church of old, u the Lord thy
God led thee through that great and terrible wilder-
ness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions
and drought, where there was no water." And what
was the result? "The Lord thy God brought thee
forth water out of the rock of flint ; he fed thee in
the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew
not, that he might humble thee, and that he might
prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end."
(Deut. viii. 15, 16.)
LEVITICUS. The third book of Moses bears this
name ; and it appears to derive its name from tha
486 L I
Septuagmt, who called it the book of Leviticus,
from containing the laws of the Levitical priest-
hood.
LIFE. This is one of the characters of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In him, saith the apostle John, ''was
life, and the life was the light of men." (John i. 4.)
And elsewhere Jesus saith himself, " I am the life
and the light of men. I am the resurrection and
the life. I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have it more abundantly." It is
most essential to our happiness, that we should
have clear conceptions of this most blessed truth,
so as to see and know from whence, and in whom,
all the springs of life are. It is not, in my view of
things, sufficient to understand that Christ gives
life to his people, but that he is himself the life of
his people. He saith himself, u Because I live, ye
shall live also." So that Jesus is, to the soul of his
redeemed, the very life of the soul, as our soul is
the life of the body. When the soul departs from
the body, the body dies ; and could it be supposed
that Christ was to depart from the souls of his re-
deemed, the soul would die also. But this is im-
possible ; for it is said, that he hath quickened them,
who were by nature dead in trespasses and sins.
And the apostle to the church of the Colossians
saith, " Your life is hid with Christ in God ; so that
when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory." What a world of
blessedness there is in this one consideration of the
Lord Jesus as the life of his people ! Precious Lord,
I would say, thou art indeed both the life and the
light of men ! Thou art in thyself the whole of their
spiritual and eternal life. Keep alive, I beseech
thee, the renewed life thou hast given me in thyself;
and cause me to enter into the full apprehension
and enjoyment of that most glorious proclamation of
LI
48T
thine in which thou hast said, * I am the resur-
rection and the life ; he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that
liveth and believeth in me shall never die."
LIGHT. This is another of the characters of the
Lord Jesus Christ ; for as Jesus is the life, so is he
the light of men. Coming up from all eternity in
the councils of peace, for the salvation of his peo-
ple, he is the everlasting light and glory of his
people. He it is that first caused the light to shine
out of darkness in the original creation of nature.
In like manner, he is the first to cause light to shine
out of darkness in the new creation, when the day
spring from on high first shines in upon the soul,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. iv. 6.) Oh!
rise, thou Sun of righteousness, on the souls of thy
redeemed with healing in thy wings, that they may
go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. (Mai.
iv. 2. Luke ii. 32. Ps. iv. 6. John viii. 12, &c.)
LILY and LILY OF THE VALLIES. Song ii.
1 — 2.) Those are fragrant flowers, well known
by name in this our climate, but there is reason to
suppose, that what are distinguished by those names
in Scripture very far excel in beauty, fragrancy,
and medicinal use, the lilies of those colder coun-
tries like ours. However, even with all those dis-
advantages, the lily, and the lily of the valley with
which we are acquainted, may merit a place in our
Concordance, in that Christ and his church are
spoken of under the similitude. The original name
in the Jewish Scriptures, is Susan or Schuschan.
Some have said, that this is the Persian lily, or the
crown imperial ; but it is evident, that what the
church saith of Christ, Song v. 13. (that his lips
are like lilies,) must prove, that this was a red
flower. But be this as it may, one thing I beg to
488
observe, that all historians agree in this, that this
lily was common in Judea, and grew in fields.
Hence Jesus saith, (Malt. vi. 28—29.) " Consider
the lilies of the field how they grow ; they toil not,
neither do the spin; and vet 1 say unto you, that
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these."
There is a great beauty in the similitude of this
flower to Jesus. Jesus is the flower of the field ;
Jesus is also imperial ; Jesus is open to the travel-
ler by the way. And as the flower of the field is not
of man's planting, neither cultivating, so this plant
of renown is wholly raised up by the Lord Jehovah
himself. (See Ezek. xxxix. 29.) And if we consi-
der the lily of the vallies also, (as Jesus speaks of
himself, Song ii. 1.) There is no less the same strik-
ing resemblance in every view. Nothing surely
could be more suited, to denote the unequalled
humility of the Son of God, than the figure of the
lily, which loves the retired, low, and obscure
spot of the valley. It was in the valley of this our
lower world the Son of God came, when he came
"to seek and save that which was lost." And when
we consider the modesty, the whiteness, the fra-
grancy, the fruitfulness, in short, the whole
loveliness of this beautiful flower, what can more
pointedly set forth the Lord Jesus, under all these
endearednesses of character, than the lily of the
vallies? Oh, thou holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb
of God, without blemish, and without spot !
But we must not stop here. It is a sweet and
interesting part of this subject to consider, that
while Jesus compares himself to the lily of the val-
lies, so doth he no less compare his church to the
same lovely flower. "As the lily among thorns,
saith Jesus, so is my love among the daughters.'-
There is this difference indeed between the com-
489
parison ; for while Jesus saith, that he is the lily of
the vallies, he only saith of his church, that she is
as the lily. And the reason is very plain : what
Jesus is, he is in himself, underived, and of him-
self ; whereas, what the church is, she is wholly in
him, and from him. But while this distinction is
never to be lost sight of, but thankfully preserved
in the recollection, it is very blessed to see, that
from our union with him, and interest in him, such
as Jesus is so are we in this world. Is Christ the
lily of the vallies? so, saith Jesus, is my love
among the daughters. Is Jesus Jehovah our righte-
ousness? then shall his spouse the church be
called by the same name. (Jer. xxiii. 6. and
xxxiii. 16.) Is Jesus fair and lovely, sweet and
fragrant as the lily of the vallies ? so shall the
church be in his sight, from the comeliness that he
hath put upon her. (Ezek. xvi. 14.) In a word, all
that Jesus is as the glorious Head of his body the
church, such shall be his body, glorious in his glory
and lovely in his loveliness, because in him, and
from him all is derived, for " we are members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones."
There is one thought more the subject suggests
concerning the church, and that is, that as a lily
the church is said to be among thorns ; meaning,
that in this world Jesus's church is in a wilderness.
Corruptions within, and persecutions without, the
cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of the
heart, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life,
the reproaches of some, and the heresies of others,
these make the situations of the godly but too strik-
ingly resembled by the lily in the midst of thorns.
For, as the prophet speaks, " the good man is
perished out of the earth, and there is none upright
among men ; the best of thenf is a brier, the most up-
rightissharperthanathorn hedge." (Micah.vii. 2.4.)
490
How truly blessed is it thus to prove the
doctrine of Christ by testimony, and yet more when
a child of God discovers, through the Holy Ghost,
his own personal interest in it.
LINEN. The linen of the Hebrews seems to have
been originally made from flax, called by them
Phistah. (Exod. ix. 31.) And it should seem also,
that they had another sort of a kind of cotton,
which they called Schesch. We meet with pre-
cepts in the Old Testament Scripture respecting
apparel, that, taken in the literal sense, do not ap-
pear altogether accountable. That of restoring the
poor man's pledge of raiment before the sun set, is
plain enough, because the poor man might want it
for covering. (See Exod. xxii. 26, 27.) And per-
haps of that precept, that the 8 woman should not
wear the dress pertaining to a man, neither the man
put on the woman's garment (see Deut. xxii. 5.)
the reason doth not seem difficult to discover. For
in this change of garments, in the first face of it,
there is implied somewhat of deception ; and when
we consider the retirement of women in those
eastern nations, no man ever presuming to appear
in the apartments of the women, there seems an
evident propriety in this prohibition, lest men,
under the garb of a woman's dress, might get in
unperceived among them. But when a law of this
kind is found, 8 thou shalt not let a garment min-
gled of linen and woollen come upon thee." (Lev.
xix. 19.) there is somewhat certainly mysterious in
this, if considered only with an eye to the mere
wearing of apparel. We might be prompted hum-
bly to ask, why is it that the Lord hath so pro-
hibited the wearing of linen and woollen together ?
Can it be an object of moment in itself? Since the
fall our poor sinful bodies requires covering, which
in innocency, it should seem, was unnecessary
491
either for warmth or decency ; and as the fleecy
garment is for warmth, and the linen for cleanliness,
can it be offensive to our God that his poor crea-
tures should use both ? Nay, it is well known that
we do use both, and do not consider it as any
breach of this command. Have we not reason there-
fore to believe, that somewhat of an higher nature
is implied than the mere dress of the body ? May
it not be intended as figurative respecting the co- -
vering of the soul ? Certain it is, that under the
law almost every thing became a shadowy repre-
sentation of the gospel ; and not only sacrifices and
washings, but numberless other appointments
preached the Lord Jesus Christ. Under this view it
hath been thought by some, that this precept of
not mingling linen and woollen for covering the
body, represented the still higher concern of not
mingling the covering for the soul, but that one gar-
ment, and one only, and that one found in Christ's
perfect robe of righteousness, was the great object
referred to : and if so, the precept is beautiful and
interesting. The fine linen, we are told in Scripture
(see Rev. xix. 8.) "is the righteousness of the
saints ;" and this righteousness, the prophet saith,
(Isa. liv. 17.) is of the Lord. Hence, therefore, if the
conjecture be well founded, we not only behold a
blessed appointment in the thing itself, but it may
serve moreo\ er to teach the church in what an
exalted point of view the Lord considered the
righteousness of his dear Son as the alone covering
of his people, since he caused it thus to be preached
in type and figure so many ages before the Lord's
coming. See the church's song of joy in the con-
scious covering of her Lord. (Isa. lxi. 10.)
LINUS. One of Paul's companions. (2 Tim. iv. 21.)
LION. We meet with many passages in Scripture
concerning the lion. This beast was very common
492
in Palestine, and hence, in the sacred writings, fre-
quent allusion is made to the lion by way of simi-
litude and figure. It would have been unnecessary,
in a work of this kind, to have noticed the lion,
had it not been that the Lord Jesus Christ is
spoken of under this title, as "the Lion of the tribe
of Judah." The comparative view of Gen. xlix. 9.
with Rev. v, 5. will serve to explain. The dying
patriarch blessing the tribe of Judah, and holding
forth his prophetic sayings with an eye to Christ,
describes our glorious Judah, or Jehudah, under
this strong figure — his hand was to be " in the
neck of his enemies;" meaning that he would
totally destroy them from the head to the feet.
And all his father's children were ? to bow down
before him." It is the distinguishing feature of Jesus,
that while bringing hell and all his foes under his
feet, his redeemed bend in holy adoration, and
love, and praise before him. " He is the praise of
all his saints." (Ps. cxlviii. 14.) There is a great
beauty in the figures Jacob makes use of concern-
ing Christ. Not content with simply speaking of
him as a lion, which includes every thing in the
similitude that is royal, courageous, terrible, and
full of dignity and majesty, Jacob particularizes
the figure under the several characters of the lion,
and the lion's whelp, and the old lion. "Judah
(said he) is a lion's whelp ; from the prey, my son,
thou art gone up ; he stooped down, he couched
as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him
up ? " It is said of the lion, that both in his ram-
pant state, and when couching, he is equally
formidable; when seizing his prey, or when con-
suming it, none dare to follow or oppose.
We should not have understood the beauty of
those similitudes in reference to Christ, had not
the sacred writers been so very particular. But it
493
is remarkable, how many and various the names
the Hebrews adopted to describe the different
characters of the lion by. We find, as here by
Jacob, they had names for the lion's whelp, ■end
the young- lion, and the old, and the lion from "the
swellings of Jordan," (Jer. 1. 44.) and the lion
like men of Moab. (2 Sam. xxiii. 20.) Frequent
expressions we find of the kind by way of allusion
in the Scriptures. What a sweet consoling thought
to the believer travelling through this waste and
howling wilderness, that our Jesus is the sovereign
of all, and the ruler over all. "The Lion of the
tribe of Judah" is gone up from the prey, and he
alone hath power to kill and to save.
The Scriptures speak of the old serpent the
devil under this character, as " a roaring lion going
about seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. v. 8.)
But while we behold the almighty Lord Jesus in
his victories having subdued our foe, we have
nothing to fear, but to resist Ifim stedfast in the faith,
and sure we are "to overcome by the blood of the
Lamb," as all have done before. (See Rev. xii.
10,11.)
If I might be permitted under this article to
offer one observation more, it should be to say,
what a mercy it is for us that this apostate Spirit
which scours through the earth, and the Prince of
of the power of the air, and now worketh, as we
are told he doth, in the children of disobedience,
is invisible. The sight of such an enemy would
freeze our very nature. The common lions and
beasts of the forest, would shrink with terror from
the view. How happy ought the people of God
to consider themselves, that though so near them
in his devilish devices, yet he dare not become
visible ; and though he is so busy in the cruelties
of his temptations, yet his power is limited. When
494
I hear or see some awful effects of his devices on
the minds of my fellow creatures and fellow sin-
ners ; oh ! how powerfully doth it teach me the
blessed consequences of distinguishing grace !
Doth he work his devilish purposes on others, and
am I preserved from his snare ? Doth he accom-
plish their destruction, and do I escape? reader!
think of this precious subject ! How doth it exalt
my Lord in the consciousness of preserving- grace !
And how doth it tend to humble my soul !
LIP and LIPS. The fruit of the lips is sometimes
spoken of in Scripture, for the whole of the life
and conversation. Thus Jehovah takes to himself
the sovereignty of this work, when he saith, (Isa.
lvii. 19.) "I create the fruit of the lips." Hence
the church is represented as speaking the effusions
of the heart, when she saith ; u So will we render
thee the claves of our lips." (Hos. xiv. 2.) And
hence, when commending the beauties of Jesus,
she saith ; "his lips are like lilies, dropping sweet
smelling myrrh :" (Song v. 13.) meaning, that so
sweet and fragrant are Christ's words, his gospel
of salvation, and his tokens of grace, so refreshing
to the soul of a poor sinner conscious of the want
of it ; that as lilies, they charm and afford a sweet
smelling savour, by which all the spiritual senses
are ravished and made glad.
LOAMMI. See Ammi.
LOCUSTS. The Scripture account of the locusts
is to be closely attended to, in order to a right
apprehension. The locusts of Egypt, it is more
than probable, differed widely from the locusts
which John the Baptist ate for food in the wilder-
ness. The former appear to have been instru-
ments of God for man's punishment. The latter,
the gracious gift of God for man's food. Joel, the
prophet, speaks of the same destructive creature,
495
as the Lord's army. It should seem to have been
an innumerable host of little insects, so little that
a man might tread at one time many of them under
his feet; but yet from the vast swarms, the destruc-
tion of thousands brought no relief, for the millions
remaining were enough for the accomplishment
of ruin wherever they came. What a solemn
lesson this taught, when a creature so contempti-
ble had power from the Lord to humble the
haughtiness of man! If the reader will compare
what Joel hath said chap. i. 6. 7. and ii. 3 — 11.
with Rev. ix. 1 — 12, he will 6nd large scope for
meditation. Whether the latter is figurative of
some great and awful events yet remaining to be
fulfilled in the earth ; or whether the locusts, des
cribed by the beloved apostle John in this chapter,
be altogether different from the locusts of Egypt,
or those mentioned by the prophet Joel, I stay not
to enquire. It will be sufficient for all the great
purposes of improvement from such Scripture, to
consider how terrible the Lord's judgmts are,
who can, from causes so apparently trifling and
insignificant, throw down the props of all human
comforts. The reflection of the prophet on the
subject is uncommonly striking and impressive.
"Therefore also now saith the Lord, Turn ye even
to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and
with weeping, and with mourning : and rend your
heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the
Lord your God : for he is gracious and merciful ;
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil. Who knoweth, if he will return
and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even
a meat offering, and a drink offering, unto the Lord
your God!" (Joelii. 12—14.)
I cannot dismiss this article, without making a
farther observation on the different relations of
496
the sacred writers on the subject of locusts; that
they should seem to justify the opinion, that they
differed very widely from each other. The
locusts of Egypt, formidable as they were, and
so numerous as to cover the face of the whole
earth, and to darken the land, it should seem,
must have been of the caterpillar kind ; for their
destruction, we are told, was directed to the
herbs and trees, and every thing green in the
land. (See Exod. x. 14, 15.) Such, in like man-
ner, were the locusts which Joel describes, in their
destruction of food ; but from certain peculiarities
with which he describes them also, it should seem
that they very probably were a species of much
larger kind than the locusts of Egypt. Indeed,
in relation to the locusts of Egypt, we are told,
that "before them there were no such locusts
as they, neither after them should be such."
(Exod. x. 14.) The locusts, described by Joel,
are said to be as K the appearance of horses, and
as horsemen, shall they run. Like the noise of
chariots, on tops of mountains ; like the noise of
a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble." They
are said, moreover, to march in such a regular
way, that they shall not break their ranks, nor
thrust one another in their path. Whereas the
multitude of the smaller species of insects are
in clusters, for the most part, and their movements
in the most irregular manner. And if we turn to
the account in the Book of the Revelations, we
are informed of another kind of locusts, apparently
still more formidable. These are said to be of
the scorpion kind. Their shapes are said to be
like unto horses prepared for battle. In the Book
of the Proverbs, chap. xxx. 27, the locusts are
said to have no king. But the locusts John
describes, are said to have a king over them,
L O
497
which is tc the angel of the bottomless pit." (Rev.
ix. 1 1 ) So that upon the whole, it should seem the
Scripture relates, under the general nameoflocusts,
different species of them, but all ministers and
instruments of the Lord for destruction ; and most
awful each and all of them are. Profane writers
describe the locusts of Africa and some parts of
Asia, as sometimes swarming to such a degree,
as to darken the face of the sun. The locusts of.
Palestine certainly differed from those, in that
they were not unfrequently used for food. And
such it was, most probably, John the Baptist made
his sustenance, with the wild honey of the desert.
(Matt. iii. 4.)
LORD. This glorious name is peculiarly and pro-
perly the distinguishing name of Jehovah, and
ought to have been so hallowed and sacred, as
never upon any occasion whatever, to have been
applied to an) other. For we read that Jehovah
is very jealous of His name, and will not allow
the very mention of it, unless in a way of reve-
rence to himself, without attaching guilt to the
person that doth it. Thus we read, " Thou slialt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain :
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain." (Exod. xx. 7.) So again (Isa.
xlii. 8.) u I am the Lord ; that is my name, and
my glory will I not give to another, neither my
praise to graven images." With what reverence
and sanctity, therefore, ought the glorious name
of Jehovah, Lord, to be held ? Indeed, though
among men, master and lord are sometimes used
from servants to their superiors, yet the incom-
municable name of Jehovah, is never used in
this way by any. It is impossible to preserve it
too sacred.
Jehovah, or Lord, is equally adapted and made
vol. VI. 2 K
498
use of in common to teach us all the persons of
the Godeiead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We
find, in every part of the word of God, Jehovah the
Father, so called, (see Zech. ii. 10.) where Jeho-
vah the Father is represented as sending Jeho-
vah the Son. So again we find Jehovah the Fa-
ther speaking to Jehovah the Son, (Ps. ex. 1.
Isa. xlii. 5 — 8.) and numberless other instances oc-
cur throughout the Bible. In like manner, God
the Son is called by this glorious name, (Jer. xxiii.
6.) with express designation of character, and
this also by Jehovah the Father. And throughout
both Testaments of Scripture, God the Son pos-
sessed in common with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, the distinguishing name of Lord. And no
less God the Holy Ghost, (Num. vi. 24—26.)
where each glorious person is severally and dis-
tinctly called Jehovah. (2 Cor. iii. 17. 1 John v. 7.)
See God Jehovah.
LO RUHAMAH. See Ammi.
LOT. Son of Haran, and nepehew to Abraham.
His name signifies iv rapped up, or hidden. His
history we have interspersed with that of Abraham,
from Gen. xi.27. toxix. 36.
LOTS. To cast lots. — A common practice among
the Hebrews : they called it Goral. Nay, we find
the Lord himself appointing the casting lots lor the
scape goat, Lev. xvi. 8. What was called the
feast of Pur, or Purim, was founded upon the same
custom. The word Pur, or Phur, is not Hebrew, but
Persian, taken from the Persians, among whom at
that time the children of Israel were, and under their
government. The feast of Pur, in honour of the des-
truction of Haman the Aggagite, was so great a fes-
tival among the Jews, that even to this day it hath
been handed down, and is kept. And the reason
assigned wherefore they called this festival Pur,
499
or Purim, casting lots, was, because when Haitian
planned the destruction of the Jews, he had lots
cast before him from day to day. (S^e Esther
iii. 7. to the end.) The Jews, therefore, when
th ough God's mercy they had caused the ruin of
Hainan, appointed this feast on the same month
in every year, and called it Pur. (See Esther
ix. 18. to the end.)
LUCIFER. We meet with this name Isa. xiv. 12.
Various have been the opinions of commentators,
who is meant by it. Some have supposed it re-
fere d to the morning star, because to the name
Lucifer is added " son of the morning ;" and in
confirmation they refer to that passage, (Job xxxviii-
7.) where at the creation, the morning stars are
said u to have sung together, and all the sons of
God shouted for joy." But it should seem, that
this is a total perversion of the passage, for Lu-
cifer is said to be fallen ; and moreover, Jesus is,
in a special and personal manner, called " the morn-
ing star." (Rev. xxii. 16.)
Other commentators, with much greater proba-
bility ol truth, have supposed, that by Lucifer is
meant the Devil, who once was among the bright
ornaments of heaven, but by apostacy is fallen ;
and this agrees with the whole context. Hell
from beneath is said to have moved at his coming.
(Isa. xiv. 9.) And agreeably to this opinion, we find
that the general name ol Lucifer hath been assigned
to the devil in all the christian church.
But there are others, who in their comments on
this part of Isaiah's prophecy, accept the whole pas-
sage as referring literally to the king of Babylon,
with which the subject opens at the fourth verse.
If read in this tight, the whole passage is solemn,
magnificent, and striking. The greatness and
power of the king of Babylon is described in very
2 k2
500
lofty characters : his city is called the golden city.
He is said to have made the earth to tremble, and
to have shaken kingdoms. The prophet next de-
scribes his tyranny, despotism, and cruelty. He
smote the people in wrath, and that not occasion-
ally, but continually ; and so irresistible was his
power, that none could hinder. At length he
falls. The earth gains instant rest, and by a
beautiful figure of rhetoric, is said to break forth
into singing. Then comes in the awful account
of the succeeding state to the present life. u Hell
from beneath is moved at his coming." The
territories of the damned are represented as
opening to receive a more than ordinary guest,
now come to take up his eternal dwelling there ;
and the dead, and the chief ones of the earth,
who when alive trembled at his power, now all
brought together into one common level of horror
and misery, are represented as insulting over his
calamity. u Art thou also become weak as we ?
art thou become like unto us ? Thy pomp is brought
down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols :
the worm is spread under thee, and the worms
cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning !"
Perhaps there never was a finer piece of imagery
in any description ever given. The movement of
hell to meet this stranger, this great one, is be-
yond all conception sublime, as if those infernal re-
gions of horror felt convulsed at his approach, and
thus testified their welcome. And the taunting
compliments from the kings and great men of
the earth, whom the monarch of Babylon had
hastened and sent there before their time, is wonder-
fully conceived, to shew what deep and bitter
malignity the conversation of hell is made up of,
to aggravate the torments of the damned, and to
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501
fill up the full-heaped measure of corrosive and
everlasting- misery. But when the reader hath done
with his observation on this awful prospect, I beg
yet more earnestly to call his attention to ano-
ther, by way of finishing the subject, which
conies home to every breast, or ought at least
so to do, and which is not confined to person
or character, but universally concerns all man-
kind.
Whether this Lucifer, son of the morning, be
or be not either of the characters before mentioned,
yet for every character and for every person,
the entrance into the world of spirits is opened
at death. Whether, hell from beneath is moved
at the unawakened sinner's coming, or heaven from
above opens her golden gates to receive the re-
deemed regenerated saint in Jesus, this Scripture,
with others to the same amount, plainly testify that
that thinking faculty, that immortal incorporeal
part, which at death separates from the body,
hastens into the world of spirits like its own, and
exists in a state perfectly distinct from and uncon-
nected with the body, and will so continue until
the general resurrection. What a solemn thought,
if properly attended to, and yet increasingly more
solemn to every inhabitant of the earth when con-
sidered also, that the time of this separation may
be the next moment for ought we know, when the
the disembodied soul shall receive the summons
for departure.
And there is another thought connected with
it, which gives solemnity to the former, and which
this Scripture tends to prove, namely, that in that
world of spirits they think and speak, have con-
versation and fellowship, with each other, as fa-
miliarly as we have with each other that are yet
in the body. How remote from hence is not said.
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It may be immensely distant ; it may be very
near. One thing is certain, as this Scripture
shews, namely, that they are intimately acquainted
with the past circumstances of their own lives, and
the lives of others with whom they dwelt. And
hence, though they cease for ever from us, and
we from them, in respect to further communion ;
though as the Scripture saith, " Abraham be ig-
norant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not,"
(Tsa. lxiii. 16.) yet the existence is made up
of identity, consciousness, and unceasing thinking,
and acting, and the most lively perception. Hence,
in either state, and in both states, the happiness
of the blessed, and the misery of the damned, in-
finitely surpasseth the utmost conception our pre-
sent faculties can form. Oh, the multitude, the
unnumbered, unknown, unanswerable arguments
which the Scriptures hold forth " to seek the things
which make for our everlasting peace, and to
flee from the wrath to come."
LUCIUS. One of the prophets of the Christian
church at Antioch, (See Acts xiii. 1.) His name
signifies, light. There is another of this name,
styled Paul's kinsman. (See Rom. xvi. 21.)
LUHITH. A city of Moab. (Tsa. xv. 5.) The
name signifies, a table, or floor.
LUKE. Tiie beloved physician, whose praise is in
the gospel. His name is borrowed from a Latin
word signifying light. He was Paul's com-
panion in several journies, as appears from
Col. iv. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 11. Phil, xxiii. 24. The
church is highly indebted to this man, under the
Holy Ghost, for the blessed gospel which bears
his name, and the Acts of the Apostles. (See, in
confirmation, Acts i. 1.)
LUNATIC. It may not be improper, in a work of
this kind, to take notice of the lunacies of Scrip-
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ture, because, in all probability, they differed
from the common supposed lunacy, or moon-sick-
disease, common in life. The lunatics we read
of in the gospel, certainly were those which were
possessed by the evil spirit. And in the days of
our Lord, those maladies were more than or-
dinarily common ; for as the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of
the devil, so the possession by the evil spirit was
then permitted, for the purpose of the display of
Christ's power. No doubl, the mystery in relation
to spiritual mercies in Christ had much signification,
teaching us that Jesus alone had power for the
accomplishment of so much good. And one
feature in respect to the disease of lunacy was
very prominent and striking, namely, that the
poor creature under possession of Satan had no
desire in himself for a cure. Such became a
lively emblem of every sinner ; for the language
of every man by nature is the same as we find
the lunatic used : " What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God ? I beseech thee torment
me not." (Mark v. 7.) What a sweet and endear-
ing view it gives of Christ ! Jesus is the first
in every act of mercy : we cannot make our application
to Jesus, however early, before that Jesus hath first
applied to us by his blessed Spirit. Did the Lord
withhold his blessings till we asked them, or
until we had prepared ourselves for them, they
would never be received at all. The lunacy in
this sense, like all other diseases of our fallen
state, is sought after by Jesus to heal. " Himself
bare our sins, and carried our sorrows."
LUST. Graves of lust. See Kibroth Hattaavah.
LUZ. The original spot called afterwards " Bethel,
the house of God." (Gen. xxviii. 19.) Luz seems
to have meant separation.
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LIBYA. A province in Egypt: (see Acts ii. 10.)
so called from Lubim, the heart of the sea.
LYCAONi A. So called from the Greek, meaning1 a she
wolf. Here Paul preached. (See Acts xiv. 6 — 10.)
LYCIA. A province of Asia Minor. Paul landed
here in his way to Rome. (Acts xxvii. 5.)
LYDDA. Here Peter came and healed .^Eneas.
(Acts ix.33, 34.)
LYDIA. A woman of Thyatira, for whose con-
version Paul was called by a vision to preach at
Philippi. (See Acts xvi. 14 — 40.) Her name,
it should seem, was taken from Ludim, births.
LYSANIAS. Tetrarch of Abilene. (Luke Hi. 1.)
The name is formed from the Greek, signifying
to destroy.
LYSTRA. The birth place of Timothy. Here
Paul and Barnabas preached, and wrought a
miracle on a man lame from his birth. We have
the history, Acts xiv. 6, &c.
M.
MAACHA or MA AC AH. A province of Syria,
so called from Maacah, pressure. (See 2 Sam.
x. 26.) There are several persons called by this
name in Scripture. (See Gen. xii. 24. 2 Sam.
iii. 3. 1 Kings xv. 2. 1 Chron. ii. 48, &c.)
MA AS EI AH. There are several of this name in
Scripture. (I Chron. xv. 18. 2 Chron. xxviii. 7.)
The signification, it should seem, is the hope of
the Lord ; from Chasah, hope, and Jah, Lord.
MACEDONIA. A kindom of Greece. (See Acts xvi. 9.)
MACHBANIA. A man of valour in David's army,
1 Chron. xii. 13. The word is compounded of
Machae, po< erty — and Ben, a son ; and the pro-
noun I renders it, my son.
MACHIR. The son of Manasseh, Gen. i. 23. The
505
name signifies, he that sells. There was another of
the same name, 2 Sam. ix. 5.
MACHPELAH. The cave that Abraham bought for
a burying place, Gen. xxiii. 9. The word means
double. See Burial.
MAGDALENE. See Mary Magdalene.
MAGICIANS. In Scripture language, the word
means a pretender to curious arts. Such as have
familiar spirits and wizards. Such were the ma-
gicians in the court of Pharaoh, Exod. vii. 11, &c.
Balaam, the son of Bozor, was of the same class.
(Numb. xxii. 5, &c. Dan. i. 20.) See Balaam.
MAGOG. See Gog.
MAHALALEEL. Son of Cainan, in the line of Seth,
the chosen seed, Gen. v. 15. The word means, he
that praises God. The word is a compound, from
Hillel, to praise — and El, God.
MAHALATH. The title of the liii. and lxxxviii.
Psalms. The design is wholly conjectural, what the
meaning of the phrase is. If the word be derived,
as some have said, from Machol, it hath respect to
singing. Some derive it from Chalah, signifying
infirmity. See Musician.
MAHANAIM. It sould seem to be a place of some
importance when the Israelites were in possession
of Canaan, for Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, made it the
metropolis of his kingdom, (see Sam. ii. 8,9.) Here
David retreated from the rebellion of Absalom,
(2 Sam. xvii. 24.)jJacob gave the name to this spot,
irom the angels he met there. (See Gen. xxii. 2.)
The margin of the Bible renders it, two hosts or
camps.
MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. In the margin of
some of our Bibles, the translators have given the
English of this name, as it is of several words, and
they render it, making speed to the spoil ; or he
hasteneth to the prey.
006
And when we consider that the prophet was com-
manded to mark the roll of the prophecy then deli-
vered by this name, and also called the child he
had by the prophetess by the same name, no doubt
the matter became very significant.
I would only detain the reader for one short
observation upon it, just to remark, how very
earnest the Lord's people were to carry, in the
names of their children, continual records of the
Lord's providences and dispensation. The prophet's
son never heard himself called by this name, but it
served to remind every faithful Israelite that heard
it, of the Lord's hastening his purposes of redemp-
tion. And though the captivity of Babylon lay be-
tween, yet the glorious redemption from sin, death,
hell, and the grave, by the Lord Jesus Christ, was
seen beyond it. Hence faithful men were taken by
the prophet to witness the record. (See Isa. viii .1.4.
Ps. lxxvi. 4.)
MAHLON. One of the sons of Elimelech, Ruth i. 2.
His name is derived from Mahol, infirmity. Per-
haps the father's name, and the whole family were
figurative. In the history of this house, we read
that in the days when the Judges ruled, there was a
famine in the land. The Book of the Judges, at the
close, saith, that in those days, a there was no
king in Israel, every man did that which was right
in his own eyes." (Judg. xxi. 25.) And this we may
be sure, was bad enough. In such seasons there is
always a famine, not perhaps of bread and water,
but a famine to the soul in not hearing the word of
the Lord. (Amos viii. 11.) In this state this house
in Israel left Bethlehem-Judah, the land of bread,
and the bread of Jehudah, (for so Bethlehem-Judah
means) and went to sojourn in Moab. In other
words, left the Lord to seek the world in Moab.
To this history correspond the names. Elimelech
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507
signifies, my God, a king-. Naomi, my pleasant one ;
now called Marah, bitterness ; and M ah Ion and
Chilion, sickness and consumption.
VIAKAZ. A ci y of Dan. (1 Kings iv. 9.) Some have
thought, that it was the same as Makteosh, which
Samson called Enak kore, the jaw tooth ; from the
supply of water the Lord gave him for his thirst,
from the jaw bone of the ass. (see Judg. xv. 15
-19.)
MAKKEDAH. A place rendered memorable by
Joshua's victory over it, (See Josh. x. 29.) The
. word means adoration.
MAKER. One of the glorious characters of Jeho-
vah. Hence, in reference to this perfection, the
Psalmist invites the whole creation of God to "wor-
ship and bow down and kneel, before the Lord our
Maker." (Ps. xcv. 6.) So again the prophet Isaiah,
(chap. lii. 12, 13.) " Who art thou that thou should-
est be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the
son of man which shall be made as grass ; and for-
gettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched
forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth ! " It is not a little interesting, but highly
important to be kept in view, that the act itself is
connected with the glorious and fearful name
of Jehovah-Alehim, (see Deut. xxviii. 58.) to
intimate the plurality of persons in the Godhead.
As for example, (Gen. i. 26.) it is there expres-
sed ; " And God said, Let us make man after our
image, after our likeness." And accordingly in
the following verse it is said, " So God created
man in his own image." And elsewhere, the church
is called upon to remember the Lord under this
threefold character of persons in the plural of the
word. Remember thy Creators. (Eccles. xii. 1.)
So again in Job, (chap. xxxv. 10.) the word is
plural, where is God my Makers? And yet that
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the church might never lose sight of the unity of
the divine Essence, while thus believing in the
existence of a threefold character of person in the
Godhead, the Lord, by Moses, delivered this
glorious fundamental Iruth, in the plainest and
strongest terms; "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord !" (Deut. vi. 4.) Oh ! that these
sacred, hallowed truths, were both duly and re-
verently considered and pondered over, agreeably
to their immense sublimity, in these days of Arian
and Socinian blasphemy !
MALACHI. The last of the prophet, in closing
the sacred canon of the Old Testament Scripture.
So little is known of this man, either of his person
or connections, and tribe, or family, that some
have doubted whether his name means any more
than what the word itself expresses, my angel or
messenger, from Malach, angel, or messenger.
The point cannot be determined, for it is well
known, that the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as well
as his messenger, is spoken of by this same word
in the third chapter and first verse. This is strik-
ing, and highly proper to be regarded. The name
of the person writing is called Malachi ; in the
first verse of the first chapter, John the Baptist is
called my messenger by the same word Malachi,
in the first part of the third chapter. And Christ
is called the messenger of the covenant, by the
same word Malachi, in the middle part of the same
verse of the same chapter. So that Malach, a mes-
senger or angel, is the common term made use of
in reference to all under this character. And such
views of the name tend, in my humble opinion, to
confirm what I have before remarked in the former
part of this Concordance, under the word Arch-
angel, (which see) that Christ, the glorious angel
of the covenant, is the only archangel of Scripture.
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509
For to admit the supposition of any other as arch-
angel, while Christ is expressly called the Angel of
the covenant, must imply some inferiority in Christ :
a thing impossible. And as we well know that
Jesus Christ is the all in all of the covenant, both the
angel or messenger of it; Ihe fulfiller of it; the sum
and substance of it; the administrator of it ; in all
present and everlasting concerns ; we do no vio-
lence to the expression, when we express Christ's
personal offices in the great work of redemption,
by all and every term of character that can tend to
bring home the Lord Jesus to our affections, in the
most endeared and endearing manner. See Arch-
angel.
It may not be improper to observe respecting
Malachi, the prophet, that his services were exer-
cised about three hundred and fifty years before
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And with
this man's ministry, the Holy Ghost closeth the
sacred volume of the Did Testament Scripture.
MALCHIAH. We meet with many of this name
in Scripture. There was a Malchiah chief of a
family in Israel. (1 Chron. xxiv. 9.) See also con-
cerning others of this name 1 Chron. vi. 40. ix. 12.
Ezra x. 25. Neh. iii. 11 ; xiv. 31. And the
father of Pashur was a Malchiah ; as he was
also the worthless character whose name is ren-
dered memorable in infamy, for his cruelty to
God's prophet. (See Jer. xxi. 1. and xxxviii. 6.
&c.) The name but ill corresponded with the
actions of those men. Malchiah is a compound
of Melek, a king ; and Jab, the Lord ; therefore
Malchiah means, " the Lord rules, or the Lord is
king."
MALCHIEL. The son of Beriah. (Num. xxvi. 45.)
God is my king. I cannot forbear remarking, that
how ill soever some, yea, many of the Hebrews
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answered to their names, yet it was much to the
honour of their fathers, to remind themselves and
their children by those names, of the Lord God
of Israel.
MALCHISUA. A son of Saul, who was slain with
his father and brothers at mount Gilboa. (See
1 Sam. xxxi. 2.) compounded of Melek, king —
and Jushah, Saviour.
MALCOM or MILCOM. One of the dunghill
gods of the Ammonites. (1 Kings xi. 33.) See
Abomination.
MALCHUS. The servant of the high priest, ren-
dered memorable by the apostle Peter cutting off
his ear in his zeal for Christ, and Jesus with his
unequalled tenderness healing it ; (see John xviii.
10. with Luke xxii. 50, 51.) The name is derived
from Melek.
MALEFACTOR. We meet with this word but
upon one occasion in the Bible, namely, at the
crucifixion of Christ, (Luke xxiii. 32.) and, there-
fore, for want of a stop at the word preceding it,
we make a wrong application of it, and destroy
the sense of the passage. The evangelist saith,
" and there were two other malefactors led with
him, (that is, the Lord Jesus) to be put to death."
If we put a stop at the end of the word other, we
express the true sense of the passage, and are
in exact correspondence to the pure word of
God. And there were two other — which were
malefactors. But without this detachment of the
passage, we include him as a third, " who did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." Jesus
indeed became sin and a curse for us, but when
he did it, he was in the same moment " holy, harm-
less, undented, separa.e from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens*.* (Heb. vii. 26.)
MALTA or MEL1TA. An island in the Mediter-
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511
ranean sea, rendered memorable in Scripture
from Paul's landing- there, (Acts xxviii. 1, &c.)
so called from Mai, honey.
MAMMON. We meet with this word two or three
times in the gospel, as used by our Lord Jesus
Christ in a figurative manner. Jesus contrasts
mammon to God. " Ye cannot serve God and
mammon." (Matt. vi. 24.) u Make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness."
(Luke xvi. 9.) It is a Syriac word, and means,
perhaps, generally speaking, not gain or riches
only, but whatever is in opposition to the Lord.
Every corruption of our nature may be called the
mammon of unrighteousness, and as such is set
forth by it as hostile to a state of grace.
MAMRE. The hallowed spot where the Lord
appeared unto Abraham. (Gen. xviii. 1.) It is
derived from Marah, bitter.
MANAEN. He was one of those with Barnabas
and Saul at Antioch, when the Holy Ghost sent
those servants out to the work of the ministry.
(See Acts xiii. 1.)
MANASSEH. The eldest son of Joseph. (Gen.
xli. 51.) His name was given him by his father,
because, he said, God had made him forget all
his toil, and all his father's house. The word in
the margin of the Bible is forgetting, from Nahash,
to forget. There was another Manasseh, son of
Hezekiah, whose history we have, 2 Kings xx.
xxi.
MANDRAKES. (Song vii. 13.) The original
name is Dudaim, and is only mentioned in the
instance of Reuben finding them in the field, and
bringing them to his mother, (See Gen. xxx. 14
— 18.) and in this place of the Canticles.
There doth not seem to be any determined fruit
meant by those mandrakes ; and some have con-
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eluded, that they were flowers, such as the jessa-
mine or violet ; and the language of the church ill
saying, that they gave a smell, seems to favour
this opinion. Some authors, however, have de-
scribed peculiar qualities to the mandrakes as
fruits, not unlike, in their effects on our nature, to
what is said of the flocks of Laban, (Gen. xxx.
37, &c.) and have concluded, that it was on this
account that Rachel desired them. This, how-
ever, is but conjecture. The church describing
them as fragrant, and perhaps having an allusion
in that view to the fragrancy of higher objects,
may be supposed to convey the idea of the sweet-
smelling odour of Jesus, and the fruits and graces
of his Spirit.
MANGER. We find this word no where in the
Bible but when made use of in relation to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Luke the evangelist tells us,
that " when the days with Mary were accomplished
that she should be delivered, she brought forth
her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there
was no room for them in the inn." (Luke ii. 6, 7.)
An English reader, unacquainted with the manners
and customs of the East, from this relation, would
be led to conclude, that from the fulness of the
inn, and the poverty of the Virgin Mary, there
was no other accommodation to be obtained for
her. But travellers accustomed to the jourmes
in Palestine, explain the circumstances connected
with inns different to this nation. Every traveller
takes with him, of some sort or other, accommo-
dations for the way. There are, here and there,
caravansaries, or inns, built for the accommodation
of travellers, to shelter them from the inclemency
of the weather ; but sad must be the case of all
travellers who carry nothing with them for their
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513
own comfort, when they take shelter in those
hovels. It is to be hoped, that in Bethlehem,
whose very name means the land of bread, there
was sufficient provision of this kind for u the Lord
of life and glory." But what other accommo-
dations Mary had, we are left to conjecture. The
humble circumstances in which Jesus appeared,
in his first open manifestation in our nature, had a
. beautiful correspondence to the whole of his mission.
The strongest expression we meet with in the
word of God respecting the humiliation of Christ,
is his emptying himself, or, as the apostle ex-
presses it, making himself of" no reputation." (Phil,
ii. 7.) The great object for which the Son of
God became man, was to restore the divine glory,
which sin had obscured ; so that it was not enough
for the Lord Jesus Christ to give all glory to God
in a way of obedience and death, but he will give
away, for a time, his own glory, to make the satis-
faction to God more abundant. An inn, therefore,
without accommodation, a manger, not a sopha,
became exactly suited for this humble Saviour to
make his appearance in. And when we find the
Son of God so debased, whose essential glory
was, and is, equal to the Father, we behold an
equivalent given for the debasement of God the
Father's glory by reason of man's sin. Hence,
therefore, the Lord Jesus, in his coming to redeem
our nature, will, from the manger to the cross,
debase, humble, and empty himself, and make
himself of no reputation, yea, become " sin and a
curse for us, when he knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him." It is
very blessed thus to behold Jesus when entering
our world, and to discover the causes wherefore
there was no room for him in the inn !
MANNA. In the margin of the Bible it is called
VOL. vi. 2 L
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Man-hu, (Exod. xvi. 15.) meaning the bread with
which the Lord fed Israel in the wilderness. It
was altogether miraculous : for this food began to
fall from heaven from the time the Israelites arrived
in the wilderness of Zin, which was the sixteenth
day of the second month after their daparture
from Egypt, until that they came to Canaan, during
the pilgrimage of forty years. And what rendered
this daily mercy the more miraculous was, that on
the Sabbath-days it never fell, during the whole
of this eventful period. 1 beg the reader to read
the interesting account of it, Exod. xvi. through-
out : it will well reward his attention. The
children of Israel called it Man-hu ; that is, they ask-
ed the question, u What is this, for it is peculiar ? "
And hence Moses, (Deut. viii. 3.) reminds Israel
of their surprize at first beholding it. " Who
fed thee (said Moses) with that peculiar thing
which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know."
The miracle itself was designed to be a stand-
ing miracle, for Israel to remember and record in
their generations for ever; hence an omer of it
was to be reserved in a pot, and laid up before
the Lord for a memorial. Here was a double
proof of the miracle ; for the manna itself was so
perishable and delicate, that if only kept for a
day, it bred worms and stank ; yet, to teach
Israel to reverence the Sabbaths, that which was
kept for the use of the Sabbath bred no worms,
nor stank; and the omer of it also which was laid
up before the Lord, was preserved pure from
generation to generation.
It was also no less miraculous, the immense
quantity which regularly fell every day in the
supply. It gave supply to the whole camp of
Israel — six hundred thousand on foot that were
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men, besides children, and mixed multitude that
went with Israel, came out of Egypt ; therefore
allowing1 for increase, we may safely put clown
mear a million of souls, who were daily fed from
the supply of manna. (See Exod. xii. 37, 38.)
The manna had a remarkable quality, which,
though not miraculous, is recorded as worthy our
observation. Though it melted at the heat of the
sun, yet when brought into the tent it became hard, .
so that the people ground it in mills, or beat it
in a mortar. (See Num. xi. 7, 8. and Exod. xvi.
20, 21.) It may be proper to observe, that what
is now called manna in the shop of the apothecary,
hath no one resemblance or connection whatever
with the manna of Scripture, but is the gum, or
balsam, of certain trees. We are told indeed by
historians, that in Arabia, and in Calabria, and in
other places, there is a dew on the ground still
to be seen, like manna. But that this cannot be
similar to the manna of Israel is evident, for it is
of medicinal quality, and affects the bowels. The
Jews are so tenacious respecting the manna of
their fathers, that they pronounce an anathema
and execration on every one that would call in
question the miraculous nature of it. And Chris-
tians ought not to be less earnest in defence of the
same precious truth, since the manna of the Old
Testament was but typical and figurative of the
bread of life under the New. Jesus was all along
thus represented to Israel ; and was then, and is
now, the living bread, by faith, with which the
Lord feeds all the true Israel. (See John vi. 31 —
58. Rev. ii. 17.)
MANOAH. A name eminent in Scripture, from
the manifestation that the Lord made to him in a
time when visions of God were rare. (See Judg. xiii.)
The name seems to be derived from Nuaeh, rest.
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When the reader hath turned to the chapter
which relates this wonderful transaction, and read
it, I beg- him to pause over it, and consider the
several interesting- circumstances connected with
it ; and then let him judge for himself, who this
person could be that appeared to the man and
his wife but, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is certain,
as far as we can judge, that both Manoah and his
wife regarded their heavenly visitor but as a
created angel, until that when in the flame of the
sacrifice he ascended with it. But when they
beheld him thus go up in the flame, to give an
acceptableness to their poor sacrifice, then they
knew that it was that Glorious Holy One whom
Jehovah had sworn into his office as High Priest
for ever. The man knew by this that it was
Jehovah the Son, and not a created angel ; and
as such, he said, " We shall surely die, because
we have seen God," agreeably to the Lord's own
declaration, " Thou canst not see my face and live."
(Exod. xxxiii. 20.)
There is one beauty more in this trasaction, and
which serves to confirm this blessed doctrine, that
this supposed angel was Christ ; and that is, that
when Manoah asked his name, the angel of the Lord
said unto him, " Why askest thou my after name,
seeing it is secret ? " In the margin of the Bible
it is rendered, " seeing it is wonderful." And the
name Wonderful is Christ's well-known name.
(Isa. ix. 6.) Reade-r, what think you of the
subject? Was it not Jesus, as if longing for the
time of his coming to tabernacle openly with his
people ?
M AON. A city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 55.) The word
means an habitation. (Exod. xv. 23 — 25f)
M ARAH. A memorable spot, so rendered from the
murmurings of Israel. The word signifies bitter or
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bitterness. No doubt, but that beside the history,
there was much of a spiritual instruction in this
event. All creature-comforts are in themselves dis-
posed to produce bitterness : until Christ is seen
and enjoyed in them, even our most common com-
forts will always prove unsatisfying, and never pro-
duce what they propose. But if Christ be in our
appointments, whatever they are, like the tree
the Lord shewed to Moses, which when cast into
the waters of Marah made them sweet, then will
all be sanctified and sweetened to our use, and the
divine glory.
MARANATHA. We meet with this word joined
to Anathema, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. See Anathema. In
addition to what was then observed under this head,
it may not be improper to remark yet farther,
that when the apostle Paul useth this form of ex-
pression, which signifies, Let the offender that loves
not the Lord Jesus Christ be punished when the
Lord comes, he useth it not as a matter that was
new, or a form that was never heard of before,
but rather one well known. It should seem to be
rather a proverbial method of saying, let a man that
is guilty of such and such things be an Anathema
Maranatha. It is as if the person so pronouncing
the punishment meant thereby to say, it exceeds
my power to express what ought to be the conse-
quence of your crime, I therefore leave you to the
Lord when he comes.
MARK. The evangelist. Probably the name is
from the Greek, and means shining. There was
another Mark, Acts xii. 12.
MARRIAGE. The Scriptures, both of the Old
Testament and the New, have in a great variety of
circumstances shewn in what high esteem the
holy estate of marriage was considered by holy
men of old. And though in the Old Testament we
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read of many wives being joined to one husband, yet
our Lord Jesus expressly saith, that it was not so
from the beginning. (Matt. xix. 3 — 9.) And there
is reason to believe, that in numberless instances
where we read of a man having more wives than one,
all but one were rather as concubines than wives.
Such, for example, as Abraham's Hagar and Ke-
turah. And I think it very plain, from the New
Testament doctrine upon this subject, that from
the very first order of things, even from the crea-
tion, the spiritual marriage and unity between
Christ and his church was all along represented
by the marriage-state, and uniformly intended to
be shadowed forth. In confirmation of this opi-
nion, I beg the reader to consult the following
Scriptures : Gen. ii. 18, tothe end ; Ephes. v. 22.
to the end ; Heb. xiii. 4. And when the reader,
hath fully considered the force of these Scriptures,
let him turn to John's gospel, second chapter,
and there read how the Lord Jesus honoured the
marriage both with his presence and the first mi-
racle that he wrought ; then let him turn to the
fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and Luke the
sixteenth and eighteenth, and mark how strongly
the Lord attacheth adultery to the separation of
men and their wives. From the whole of which
taken together, I think it is very plain, not only
of the original design from the beginning, that
every woman should have her own husband, and
every husband his own wife, but also that the mar-
ried state was intended, in the most dear and ten-
der manner, to set forth and display Christ's union
with his church. Perhaps it may not be improper
" under this article ; to make another observation in
allusion to the customs of the East on the cele-
bration of their marriages, and which may serve
to illustrate and explain, in some measure, that
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circumstance respecting the man without a wed-
ding garment, which our Lord speaks of in the
marriage-feast the king made for his son. (See
Matt. xxii. 1 to 14.)
We cannot need to be informed how splendid
and costly the entertainments made for marriage
feasts always were in the East. Their ordinary
entertainments were great, and no expense was
spared in them ; but even the poorest of the people
on bridal occasions exerted themselves to make the
festivity as rich as possible. In the marriage there-
fore of the king's son, we may well suppose the dis-
play of magnificence must have been proportion-
ably great. The circumstance of the wedding gar-
ment provided for the guests, was in exact con-
formity to the oriential custom. Certain rich vests,
or caftans, were provided for every one ; therefore,
when the king came in to see the guests, and
found a man without the wedding garment, the
contempt he had shewn in refusing to put on what
must have been provided for him, excited the
king's displeasure, and rendered him a just ob-
ject of the king's wrath. This explains the sense
of the parable. But the spiritual meaning of the
parable is still infinitely more important. The invita-
tion of the gospel to the marriage of the Lord Jesus
with our nature, runs in the same charter of grace.
" Go ye into the highways, and as many as ye
shall find bid to the marriage." So that whereso-
ever the sound of the gospel comes, it may be truly
said, in the language of the parable, the invitation
goeth forth, and there will be gathered together,
all, as many as the servants find, both bad and good,
and the wedding will be furnished with guests. The
man therefore whom the king finds at his table
without the wedding garment, is a type or repre-
sentation of every one of the same description and
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character, who contumaciously refuses to be clothed
with the robe of Christ's righteousness, but comes
before the king- with the filthy rags o( his own righ-
teousness ; and as at the sight and remonstrance
of the king that man was speechless, unable to
speak a word by way of softeninghis guilt, so at the
lastday, when the Lord Jesus shall come to be glorifi-
ed in his saints, and admired in all that believe,
all that are found without the justifying garment of
Jesus's salvation will be struck dumb, and over-
whelmed with guilt and shame. The soul that is
Christless now, will be speechless then. Such
seems to be the evident scope and tendency of
this beautiful parable of our Lord.
MARROW. The rich and delicious blessings of the
gospel are figuratively set forth as marrow ;
hence David speaks of them as such to his soul.
(Ps. lxiii. 5.) And the prophet Isaiah represents
the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ as " a feast
of fat things, and full of marrow." (Isa. xxv. 6.)
MARSCHERAN. The eighth month, like October.
MARTHA. The sister of Lazarus and Mary. Her
name is derived from Marar, bitter. We have her
history, . Luke x. 38 — 42. and John xii. This
woman is rendered memorable in the church by
reason of her pursuits, being so much engaged in
earthly concerns while having conviction on her
mind of the importance of heavenly objects. So that
her name is become somewhat proverbial ; and we
call them the Marthas of the present day, who are
careful and troubled about many things, and not
so much in earnest for the one thing needful.
MARY. We meet with many of the name of Mary
in the New Testament :
The Virgin Mary.
Mary, the mother of James and John.
Mary, the mother of Mark.
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Mary, the wife of Cleophas.
Mary, called also Salome.
Mary, a pious woman whom the apostle Paul
mentions. (Rom. xvi. 6.)
The word of God has recorded the names of
those women as followers of the Lord Jesus, and
from the interest they took in what concerned
Christ ; but with their history farther, excepting
the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene, we are
not much acquainted. Concerning the Virgin
Mary, we are most highly interested to have the
clearest apprehension of her person and history, in
that part which concerns the incarnation of the
Lord Jesus ; and therefore, in a work of this kind,
I should consider it most highly deficient, if it
were wholly passed over. I mean however, to be
very brief upon it, and only say enough to convey,
to that class of readers for whom this Concordance
is designed, clear apprehensions in what light the
holy Scriptures explain to us the miraculous con-
ception of Mary, and the incarnation of the Lord
Jesus. I begin then from that part where the
Lord Jesus begins to proclaim to the church, by
the spirit of prophecy, the event of his coming.
" Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
(Heb. x. 5, &c.) he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me." Now here observe, Christ, by the spirit of
prophecy, is speaking of the Father. Let this be
marked down as first in the memorandum of this
glorious mysterious subject. Then turn to the
evangelist Luke, (chap. i. 35.) where we find, at
the visit of the angel to Mary, to inform her of the
miraculous conception, when Mary expressed her
astonishment at the salutation, and modestly inti-
mated the impossibility of the thing, the angel made
this remarkable answer : " The Holy Ghost shall
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come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee ; therefore, also, that holy thing
which shall be born of thee, shall be called the
Son of God." Here let it be equally marked down,
in strong- memorandums of the heart, the part
which God the Holy Ghost had in this stupendous
work. We see then both the hand of God the
Father, and God the Holy Ghost, in their personal
offices and characters, engaged in the great under-
taking ; and that we might not overlook the part
which Jesus himself had in it also, as God the Son,
we are expressly told, that he took our nature
upon him for the purpose of redemption. The
words of the Holy Ghost on this point are very
strong, and very particular. "Forasmuch then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same." So
again—" For verily he took not on him the nature of
angels, but he took on him the seed of Abra-
ham." (See Heb. ii. 14. 16.) Let this also be put
down in the mind, and then sum it up as a lesson
in arithmetic. All the persons of the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, had their almighty
hand in the mysterious work of Christ's incarnation.
This premised, we may now go farther, and
observe that this body given by the Father, pro-
duced by the overshadowing power of the Holy
Ghost, and taken by the Son, is to be of the same
nature and quality as our nature, sin only ex-
cepted; for the more he is like to his redeemed in
nature, the more suited he is to be our Mediator.
Hence the Scripture saith, that "in all things it
behoved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful High
Priest in things pertaining to God, to make recon-
ciliation for the sins of the people." (Heb. ii. 17.)
It is plain then, that he must be man, bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh. An angel's nature
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would not have suited the purpose of redemption :
it was human nature that had sinned, and broken
the divine law; it must be human nature that shall
make amends, by obedience and death. The jus-
tice of God, though permitting a substitute and
surety, will not permit that substitute and surety in
any other nature than man. u The soul that sinneth
it shall die." Hence, therefore, observe the beauty
and the order in the divine government, for which
the Lord Jesus took not on him the nature of angels
but the seed of Abraham.
Let us advance a step farther. We see the
blessedness and propriety that the Redeemer-
should be man, and not an angel ; — the next en-
quiry is, how this manhood shall be united with the
Godhead, in the most suitable and becoming
manner, agreeably to the purposes of the divine
counsel and will, so as to answer all the great ends
of redemption. Certainly the Son of God might
have assumed a body such as ours, consisting both
of flesh and spirit, and formed, as the first earthly
man Adam was, of nothing ; but then this would not
have been what Scripture saith Christ must be, of
" the seed of the woman," and what the promise de-
clared. (See Gen. iii. 15.) And beside, the triumph
of Christ over hell and the prince of darkness,
would not have been as the promise declared it
should be — u the seed of the woman to bruise the
serpent's head." Hence, therefore, the Redeemer
must be born of a woman, must be in all points
like to his brethren, sin only excepted, both for
the salvation of his people, and the destruction of
his enemies. But still it may be asked, could not
all this have been done in Christ becoming man
from the woman, as the woman originally was
from the man? For we read that at the creation,
" the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs
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and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the
rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man,
made he a woman." (Gen. ii. 21 — 23.) No doubt
the Lord God could have done this by the man-
hood of Christ ; and in this case, it might have
been said of the second Adam, as the first Adam said
to Eve, "thisis now bone of my bone, and flesh of my
flesh." (Gen. ii. 22.) But neither could this have
been called a birth, nor of the seed of the woman ;
neither would this have suited the purposes of re-
demption ; for the Scripture saith, that "when the
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal. iv. 4, 5.)
And elsewere it is said, u that both he that sancti-
fieth, and they who are sanctified, are all one, for
which cause he is not ashamed to call them bre-
thren." (Heb. ii. 11.) But had Christ, in his
human nature, been produced from the rib of the
woman, there would have been no such relation-
ship as there now is ; neither, as before remarked,
would Christ have been of the seed of the woman,
neither born under the law.
We find then, that for Christ to be of the seed
of the woman, of the same flesh and blood with
those he came to redeem, and to be born
under the law, to redeem them that are under the
law, he must still come nearer to our nature, and
be born as the children are born, only with that dis-
tinguishing and vast difference, that though he par-
takes of our nature, yet it is the sinless infirmities
of our nature only. He is, and must be, truly and
properly man ; as he is, and must be, truly and pro-
perly God ; being " one with the Father, over all,
God blessed forever. Amen." But in assuming our
nature, he will still be " holy, harmless, undefiled
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525
separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens." (Heb. vii. 26.)
Now, in the accomplishment of this great and
mysterious work, the formation of the body of
Christ, it is blessed to see how very particular the
sacred writers are to describe the (modus operandi)
method of the divine working in this purpose.
The original promise at the fall was, that Christ
should be of the u seed of the woman ;" and ac- .
cordingly we find the prophet, in the after-ages,
commissioned by the Holy Ghost to tell the church
that " a virgin should conceive, and bear a son."
(Isa. vii. 14.) Now observe the expression con-
ceive : not a conception, as in the ordinary way of
generation, in our fallen race ; for this is by cor-
rupt and sinful creatures ; and therefore David
very properly saith, " in sin did my mother con-
ceive me." (Ps. li. 5.) But in the instance of the
Virgin's conception, this was without the interven-
tion of an human father, and consequently no sin
in the conception ; neither sin in the seed conceived,
because this was by the miraculous impreg-
nation and overshadowing power of the Holy
Ghost. And here lie the holiness and blessedness,
as well as the power and wisdom, of the almighty
work. It was a conception of the Virgin, not a ge-
neration. Christ was conceived by the Virgin, not
begotten ; for it is said, he was made of a woman.
And it is not the place or the womb that defiles
but the nature from whom it is begotten or con-
ceived, as in our ordinary nature from Adam all
along hath been done. But in the instance of
the human nature of Christ, begotten as it was
by the overshadowing power of God the Holy
Ghost, Christ is very properly, by way of distinc-
tion, called that holy thing, (not that holy person,
but thing) to imply a conception without a genera-
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tion. Here then we see in what view we are to
consider the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, and
of consequence the person and character of the
Virgin Mary.
And it is a most blessed and soul-satisfying view,
when opened to our understanding by the Holy
Ghost, what the same Almighty Author of his
sacred word hath taught us concerning it in the
Scriptures of eternal truth. We now discover
the suitability of our dear Redeemer for the great
purposes of his mission, and plainly perceive how
needful such a high priest is for us, " who is holy,
harmless,undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens.Well might the Lord Jesus,
by the spirit of prophecy, declare, as he doth,
(the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, which, I ven-
ture to believe, refers principally, if not wholly,
to the Lord Jesus Christ) " I am fearfully and won-
derfully made. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." If, as
we have before noticed, and from the authority
of Scripture, Christ's body was the Father's gift,
(Heb. x. 5.) and if the Holy Ghost, in his over-
shadowing power, was the almighty worker in
the dark place of the virgin's womb, here called
" the lowest parts of the earth," what blessedness
is given to the view of the subject amidst all
the mysteriousness of it, and how are we taught to
honour, reverence, love, and praise the whole
united persons of the Godhead for those wonders
of redemption by Jesus Christ. " Thanks be unto
God, I would say, (will not the reader join my spirit
in it ?) for his unspeakable gift !" (2 Cor. ix. 15.)
MARY MAGDALENE. I cannot prevail upon my-
self to pass over this memorable name, without
shortly noticing the distinguishing mercy of the
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527
Lord Jesus manifested to this poor sinner. She was
the first, we are told, that had the honour and holy
joy afforded her, to have an interview with Christ
after he arose from the dead, (Mark xvi. 9.) It
was not Peter, nor James, nor John, no, nor any of
the whole college of the apostles, to whom Jesus
first shewed himself. A woman is marked out for
this peculiar privilege, yea, and such a woman as
one might have supposed whould have been not the
first upon the occasion ; for we are told, that Jesus
had cast out of her seven devils. And what is more
remarkable, the Holy Ghost is particular to tell the
church this, in the same moment he speaks of the
mercy ; for so the sweet and gracious words run —
" Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of
the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils." Did the kind
compassionate Lord mean to say by this condecend-
ing act of grace, that there he will be most gracious
where Satan hath been most cruel? Did he there-
by mean to intimate to all his disciples, that the
poor lamb of his fold shall have the softest lying
down in his bosom, whom the prowling wolf hath
most torn and worried with his claws ? Oh! that
every deeply-exercised follower of the Lord Jesus
would frequently think of this, and, as often as this
Magdalene riseth to their recollection, would behold
the Lord Jesus in this unequalled act of mercy, that
u where sin abounded, grace doth much more
abound ; that as sin hath reigned unto death, so
might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life, through Jesus Christ our Lord," (Rom. v. 21.)
MASCHIL. We meet with this word at the head of
several of the Psalms. The meaning certainly is,
to instruct. But wherefore some Psalms should be
thus prefixed with a title, and others not, is not so
very plain, since the whole book may be justly said
528 M A
to be Psalms of instruction. Some have thought,
therefore, that it hath reference to instruct in the
music of the Psalm. See Musician.
MASH. We find this name, Gen. x. 23. Some sup-
pose it to be the same as Mesheck, to take away,
— from Mashash.
MASHAL. A city of Asher, 1 Chron. vi. 74. The
name means a parable.
MASREKAH. A duke of Edom, Gen. xxxvi. 36.
from Sharah, whistling-.
MASS A. A memorable spot in the journies of Israel,
signifying- temptation. See Gen. xvii. 2, &c.
MASTER. We use this term upon various occasions,
and it is very commonly received among men,
such as servants to their employers, children to
their teachers, and the like ; but strictly and pro-
perly speaking, it belongs to none but to the Lord
Jesus Christ. So Christ himself enjoined : " Call
no man your master, for one is your master, even
Christ." (Matt, xxiii. 10.) There is certainly a some-
what of great softness in the expression in relation
to Christ. We should not give this title to the per-
son of God the Father, or God the Holy Ghost; it
seems too familiar. But eyeing Jesus in our own
nature, the heart feels a nearness of affection, and
the terms then of master, honoured Lord, seem ex-
pressive both of duty and love. Every thing in
Jesus, and every office in Jesus, makes this title
pleasant. You call me master, and Lord, (saith
that gracious Redeemer to his disciples when upon
earth) u and you say well, for so I am." (John xiii. 13.)
I know not whether I shall offend, but I cannot for-
bear making a quotation from the wiitings of an
eminently devout man of the sixteenth century upon
the subject : I mean, George Herbert, who seemeth
to have hung upon the name of Jesus his master, as
the bee hangs upon the flower.
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529
How sweetly doth my master sound, my master !
As ambergris leaves a rich scent
Unto the taster —
So doth these words a sweet content,
An oriental (Vagrancy — my master !
My master ! shall I speak? O that to thee
My servant were a little so,
As flesh might be,
That these two words might creep and grow
To some degree of spiciness to thee !
For when my master, which alone is sweet,
And ev'n my unworthiness pleasing,
Shall call and meet
My servant, as thee not displeasing,
That call is but the breathing of the sweet.
This breathing would with gains, by sweet'ningme,
(As sweet things traffic when they meet)
Return to thee ;
And so this new commerce, and sweet,
Should all my life employ and busy me.
MATRED. The daughter of Mezahab, Gen.xxxvi.39.
The name signifies rod, from Mot, a rod — and
Jarad, to descend.
MATR1. The chief of Saul's family, signifying rain.
from Matar, 1 Sam. x. 21.
MATT AN. The father of Jacob in the genealogy of
Christ. (See Matt. i. 15.) His name is from Nathan,
gift. There was another of this name in Scripture,
2 Kings xi. 18.
MATTANAH. A place where Israel encamped,
Num. xxi. 18. The name means a gift.
MATTANIAH. Or more properly Mattan-Jah—
Gift of the Lord. A man's name, chief of the family
of the Levites, 1 Chron. xxv. 16.
MATTHEW. The apostle and evangelist, or, as he
himself in great humility writes, Matthew the pub-
VOL. vi. 2 M
530
lican, Matt. x. 3. His history we have in the gospel.
MATTHIAS. Or more properly Mattath, gift— and
Jah, the Lord. The disciple chosen in the room of
the traitor Judas. (See Acts i. 23—26.)
MEAUAH. (See Josh. xiii. 4.) It should seem to have
been a cavern, or cave, as Mahar, a cavern.
MEASURE. Concerning the measures and weights of
the Jews, they are all placed together at the end of
the Bible in general, to which the reader may refer.
MEBUNNIA. The Heeshathite, one of David's
worthies. (See 2 Sam. xxiii. 27.) His name signifies
a son, from Ben or Banah, to build.
MEDAD. Medad and Eldad — we read of these men
on whom the Spirit of the Lord came, Num. xi.
26, 27. If the former name be derived from Madad,
it means he that measures ; but more probably it
is a compound word of Me, waters — and Duad,
love. Eldad is a compound also of El, God; and
Dod, love. A reference to the Scripture will give
their history, which is but short.
MEDAN. The third son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen.
xxv. 2. There is a place also called by this name ;
and some have thought, that it is the same as is
called in our Lord's time Magdala. Some suppose
that the name means judgment; and others render
it, the waters of Dan.
MEDEBA. A city beyond Jordan, Josh. xiii. 16. The
name signifies the waters of trouble, from Mi,
water — and Daab, trouble.
MEDES. We meet with the account of the Medes
and Persians in the prophecy of Isaiah, and in the
prophecy of Daniel. And as the Lord had ap-
pointed these uations for the destruction of Babylon
when her time was come, so she was the Lord's
scourge for Israel. The history of the Medes and
Persians, forms a subject of importance in Scrip-
ture. If the reader wishes to possess the Scriptural
5a i
account of those kingdoms, he must consult what
Isaiah and Daniel have declared concerning- them.
Isaiah begins the relation at his thirteenth chapter
with the burden of Babylon, and the subject con-
tinues, in respect to Israel's deliverance from
Babylon, through that and the following chap-
ter. The prophet resumes the subject of Baby-
lon's destruction at the twenty-first chapter; but
the chief prophecy concerning the final ruin of
Babylon, is in the forty- fifth and following chapters,
where Cyrus the Persian, as the destroyer of
Babylon, is called by his name, although this was
near two hundred years before the events there
predicted were intended to be fulfilled. Daniel
takes up the subject at the period where the pro-
phecy of Isaiah came to be accomplished, and in
his fifth chapter relates to the church the down-
fall of Babylon, and the death of the impious king
Belshazzar. It may be proper to add under this
article, that Darius the Mede, who conquered the
kingdom with Cyrus the Persian, governed the
Chaldean empire, and at his death Cyrus, who was
his nephew, united the kingdom of the Medes and
Persians into one. From this time Babylon sunk
to rise no more, and the Persian empire succeeded :
so that from the close of Daniel's prophecy, if we
prosecute the history of the church as an history,
we must begin with the book of Ezra, the date of
whose first chapter nearly corresponds with the
close of Daniel's prophecy.
MEDIATOR. The very name of Mediator is pre-
cious. What, but for the Lord Jesus Christ be-
coming our Mediator, must have been the hopeless
state of man to all eternity ! Though under the
article of Christ, (to which I refer the reader) so
much hath been said concerning the person of
Christ as God and man, and God-man united, the
2 m 2
32
ME
only possible suited Mediator for poor sinners, yet
methinks the very name, at every renewed
mention of it, calls up a thousand new endear-
ments to prompt the heart to dwell upon it with
unceasing- rapture and delight. The apostle Paul
felt this so forcibly, that whenever he speaks of his
adorable Lord and master under this most precious
character, he lays such an emphasis on his person
as Mediator as serves to shew the high sense and
feeling Paul had of the blessedness of looking up
to the Lord Jesus in this point of view. Thus for
example, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, the first
chapter, and the tenth verse, where speaking of
the design of Jehovah in redemption, to bring and
centre all things in Christ, and finally to make him
the glorious end of creation, he saith, that u in the
dispensation of the fulness of time, lie might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are in earth, even
in him." Observe the strength of the expression
with which the apostle closeth the account — even
in him ! So again, in his Epistle to the Colossians,
the first chapter, and twentieth verse, the apostle,
speaking of Christ " having made peace by the
blood of his cross/' makes the same emphasis on
the person of Christ. "By him (saith Paul) to
reconcile all things unto himself ; by bim, I say,"
(.saith the apostle) repeating the lovely name as if,
and which was truly the case, he found a double
blessedness in it — " by him, 1 say ; whether they be
things in earth, or things in heaven."
And every one whose heart is convinced of sin,
and of the total inability in himself ever to come to
God in any thing of his own, or by any way of
acceptance in himself, how will he hail the Lord
Jesus Christ in this most blessed and lovely and
endearing of all characters, the only " Mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus!" If
53#
the reader be of the number of truly convinced
sinners, the peculiar fitness of Christ, as God and
man in one person, for this office, will strike him
ymHi full conviction. He must be qualified for the
office, who, as God, is one with the Father, and as
man, is one with us ; and indeed so qualified as no
other could be. The partaking of both natures
gives this completeness of qualification; so that
would [ have my cause, (and a cause so infinitely
important as that the happiness of eternity hangs
upon the issue) would 1 have my cause in one that
is able? here it is in the hands of Jesus ; for he is God,
mighty to save. And would I have it in the hands
of one that is near to me ? here also it is, for it is in
the hands of Jesus, who is K bone of my bone, and
flesh of my flesh ; " one who can have "compassion
on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the
way ; seeing that he himself (in the days of his
flesh) was compassed with all our sinless infir-
mities." How blessedly the apostle follows up this
Scriptural account of our Jesus ! " Wherefore,
saith the apostle, in all things it behoved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be
a merciful and faithful High Priest in things per-
taining to God, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people; for in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them
that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 17, 18.)
And if it will not be thought swelling this ac-
count too largely, I would beg to add, that over
and above all our view and approbation of the
Lord Jesus under this most precious and blessed
of all offices, our God and Father's approbation of
his dear Son, as such, tends to bring the Lord
Jesus home still more if possible to our warmest
affection. In the suitability of the Lord Jesus, and
his personal fitness in this high character, (as such
none but himself could ever be found) there is
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ME
something so truly interesting when beheld as
Jehovah's appointment, as cannot fail to endear all
the persons of the Godhead to the Lord's people.
We discover hereby not only the wisdom of Jeho-
vah in the choice, but the love of bis heart in it
also. The recovery of our nature from the fall, is
the plan of infinite wisdom ; and therefore he that
accomplished this merciful purpose, shall be every
way suited for it. But beside the wisdom dis-
played in the fitness of Christ, the love manifested
in such an one as Christ performing it is most
blessed : all the way along the heart of God the
Father is seen in it. The Mediator to approach
Jehovah, is his Elect, in whom his soul delighteth ;
in whom he beholds such unparalleled glory and
beauty and loveliness, that the very heart of Jeho-
vah is in all, and with all, Christ undertakes and is
engaged in. There is something in this view of
the mind of the Father, and the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, all taking part and becoming inter-
ested in the acts of the Mediator, that tends to
make that office to his people yet more blessed,
and renders him who is the person engaged in it,
infinitely more endeared and endearing in every
performance of it. Let the reader only turn to
Isa. xlii. 1. and a few of the following verses, and
then judge for himself of Jehovah's great delight
in beholding Christ in the character of Mediator.
First he speaks of him, and calls upon the church
to behold him : " Behold my servant whom I up-
hold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth : I
have put my Spirit upon him ; he shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles; he shall not cry, nor
lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoak-
ing flax shall he not quench : he shall bring forth
judgment unto truth ; he shall not fail nor be dis-
ME
535
couraged till he have set judgment in the earth,
and the isles shall wait for his law." He next
speaks to him, and introduceth his address in the
loftiest language of his Almightiness. "Thus
saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens
and stretched them out, he that spread forth the
earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth
bread unto the people upon it, and spirit
to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and
will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant to the
people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the
blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the
prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the
prison house." And then, as if to put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men, who allow Jesus
Christ to be the Mediator, but deny him that God-
head by which alone the Lord Christ could be
competent to this high office of Mediator, he adds
"lam the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will
I not give to another, neither my praise to graven
images:" hereby plainly proving, that as this office
of Mediator is carried on and exercised to the
glory of Jehovah, so none but one in Jehovah
could be competent to perform it. It would have
been to have given the glory to another, if the
Lord Jesus had not been one with the Father, over
all, God blessed for ever. Moreover, the glory
of opening blind eyes, and the like, would have
been unsuitable to any creature ; and as Jehovah,
in the very opening of his address to Christ, claims
this as his distinguishing prerogative, would he
mean to claim the crown of creation, and yet put
the crown of redemption on the head of a mere
creature? Would not this have been to have
given his glory to another? Oh, how plain, how
very plain it is, that in the call and appointment
536 M E
of the Lord Jesus to this blessed office of Media-
tor, it is God's dear Son, in nature and essence
one with the Father, and in office the God-man,
Glory-man, Christ Jesus ! Oh ! that modern in-
fidels, calling themselves Christians, but in name
only so, and not in reality, would seriously lay this
at heart. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but
a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in
him." (Ps. ii. 12.)
MEGIDDO. A city of Manasseh, rendered remark-
able for the death of Josiah, (2 Kings xxiii. 29.)
It seems derived from Magad, rich fruit. Probably
it abounded with fruit ; and this place abounded
with celebrated waters. (See Judg. v. 19.)
MEGILLOTH. The children of Israel were used to
call five books, namely, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's
Song, Ruth, Esther, and the Lamentations of
Jeremiah, by this name, which means a roll, or
volume.
MEHETABEL. The son of Delaiah, Neh. vi. 10. It
seems a compound of three words — Mah-to-bel, How
good is God ! Perhaps this name was given at a
time of some remarkable providence, as we do not
find the name any where else in Scripture for the
name of a man ; and this was at a time of peculiar
exercises of Israel. It is further remarkable, that
we have the same name for a woman, Gen.
xxxvi. 39.
MEHOLATHITE. Adriel was of this place, 1 Sam.
xviii. 19. Meholah signifies weakness or sickness.
MEHUJAEL. Son of Irad, Gen. iv. 18. If from
Macha, the meaning is, blotted out, and the Lord
God.
MELCHI. The son of Janna, Luke iii. 24. There
is another of this name in the same genealogy,
twenty-eighth verse, as Melek, king.
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537
MELCHIZEDEC. A compound nameofMelek, king;
and Tzedec, justice ; and a well-known name in
Scripture, but little understood in person or
character. There are several things said of
Melchizedec, which must ever render it difficult to
explain, so as to come at a perfect knowledge of
him. He is said, in the first mention of his name, to
be a priest of the Most High God, Gen. xiv. 18 ;
and this was said at a time when the church had
not been formed into a regular church, as it was
afterwards in the wilderness, and, as far as the
word of God teacheth, had neither temple, nor altar,
nor sacrifice. Perhaps the bread and wine Mel-
chizedec brought forth, as said in this Scripture, at
the first meeting of Abraham, might not be given to
the patriarch for the refreshment of the body, but
sacramental — perhaps so, but by no means certain.
The Holy Ghost, by his servant the apostle Paul,
in his account of Melchizedec, Heb. vii. 1, &c.
saith, that he was king of righteousness. His name
indeed saith as much, as hath been before noticed ;
and from the same authority we learn, that he was
" without father without mother, without descent,
havingneither beginningof days, nor end of life." Had
theapostle stopped here in his relation of Melchizedec,
we should at once have concluded, that it was Christ
himself; for we well know, that the Lord frequently
made some sweet personal manifestations of him-
self, in the Old Testament days, loug before his
incarnation. His goings forth, we are told by the
prophet, "have been from of old from everlasting,"
(Micah v. 2.) that is, goings forth, not as Jehovah
one with the Father, for in this sense the expression,
I humbly conceive, would not have been correct ;
for in the essence of the Godhead there can be
neither goings forth, nor withdrawings, consistent
with that perfection of the divine nature, his im-
538
ME
mensity. But the account we have in Scripture of
the Lord's appearing, iu a visible from, sometimes
as an angel, and sometimes as a man, must have
been in the character of Mediator ; as if to tell the
church of the love he bore to his church, and these
many manifestations were intended as so many
proofs how much he longed for the time to come,
when he would openly tabernacle with his people in
the substance of our flesh.
Had the apostle therefore, when giving this ac-
count of Melchizedec, in describing the eternity of
his nature, and the everlasting nature of his priest-
hood, stopped at this, we should have concluded
that Melchizedec was Christ ; but when the apostle
p roceeds farther to say, that Melchizedec is made
like unto the Son of God, we pause over this con-
clusion, and know not how to pronounce sameness
from what is said only to be a likeness.
But as the Holy Ghost hath left the subject in
some obscurity, there it becomes us to leave it also^
and undetermined. In reading what is said of Mel-
chizedec, we are unavoidably led to contemplate
what is revealed of the Lord Jesus ; and if we are told
of the one, that he was " without father, without
mother, having neither beginning of days, nor end
of life ; we cannot overlook the other, concerning
whom the prophet demands, " Who shall declare his
generation ?" (Isa. liii. 8.) No one that reads of the
fatherless and motherless Melchizedec, can fail to
recollect him that, like " the stone cut without hands,
which became a mountain, and filled the earth," (Dan
ii. 34,35.) was, as man, without a father, and, as God,
without a mother, and " a priest for ever, after the
order of Melchizedec." (Ps. ex. 4.) Here then, if we
desire not to be wise above what is written, we shall
rest satisfied, blessing the Holy Ghost for what he
hath revealed, rather than coveting to know what
M E
539
he hath not revealed. Jesus is our High Priest, and
a priest upon his throne; (Zech.vi. 13.) this is our
assurance. Here then we may always hail our great
Melchizedec !
MELZAR. The government of the person of Daniel
and his companions when captives in Babylon,
(Dan. i. 16.) The word Melzar is of the Chaldean
language, and signifies steward.
MEMPHIS. A city of Egypt, the residence of the.
ancient kings. The prophets often notice it. (Isa.
xix. 13. Jer. xliv. 1 ; xlvi. 14. Hos. ix. 6.) It is deri-
ved from Moph, signifying by the mouth.
MEMUCAN. One of the seven princes of Persia,
Esth. i. 14. The word means impoverished.
MENE. A Chaldean word, signifying, what Daniel
interpreted it, together with the word Tekel, or
Thechel, he was weighed. " Mene, Mene, Tekel
Upharsin." (Dan. t. 25.) The whole taken together
was the doom which, by a miraculous hand written
upon the wall, was directed to the impious monarch
Belshazzar, and explained by Daniel. There appears
in the first reading of it some little difficulty. The
hand-writing upon the wall was, as I have stated it,
Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin — but Daniel renders
it Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and
finished it — Tekel, thou art weighed in the bal-
ance, and found wanting. Upharsin, Daniel makes
Peres ; but the sense is the same. Parsin, or
Upharsin, is Hebrew, and signifies the Persians —
and Paresin, in the Chaldean language, signifies
dividing. Daniel therefore takes both together,
and renders it Peres, thy kingdom is divided. So-
lemn as this event was, and faithfully as Daniel's
prediction was fulfilled, yet there is nothing uncom-
mon in it. Doth not every day an hand-writing,
even the solemn word of God, appear on the wall of
every sinner's conscience? And are not the awful
540
judgments threatened thereon fully executed?
Who shall describe the trembling- loins of sinners,
and the paleness of soul, which seizeth them in the
dying- hour, on entering eternity ?
MEPHIBOSHETH. Saul had a son of this name, and
so had Jonathan his son, (2 Sam. iv. 4. and 2 Sam.
xxi. 8, 9.) His name signifies reproach from the
mouth, from Pe, a mouth — and Bosh, shame. It is
thought by some, that the proper name of Jona-
than's son was Merib-baal, (see 1 Chron. viii. 34.)
and that his name was changed to Mephiboshetb,
because the Israelites were cautious of using the
name of Baal. Idolatry was not then so much in
fashion, as in the after days of the kings of Israel.
But this point cannot be ascertained.
MERAB. Daughter of Saul, (1 Sam. xiv. 49.) Her
name is taken from Rabah, mistress.
MERCY. Properly speaking, the name of Jesus.
For David, speaking of grace, and pleading for it
before the Lord, saith, as an argument and plea for
receiving it, There is mercy (that is, there is Jesus)
with thee. (Ps. cxxx. 4.) And when Zecharias
prophesied, under the influence of God the Holy
Ghost, at the coming of Christ, he said it was to
perform the mercy promised. (Luke i. 72.) Jesus is
the mercy promised.
MERCYSEAT. Much is spoken of in the Old
Testament Scripture concerning this sacred part of
the temple, from whence the Lord promised to com-
mune with his people. (Exod. xxv. 17, &c.) This,
as a type of the Lord Jesus, is eminently to be re-
garded, since it serves to teach us, that by efficacy
of redemption, the Old Testament saints, as well
as New Testament believers, were alike included
in the merits of" the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world." (Rev. xiii. 8.)
The form of the mercy-seat, or propitiatory, was
M E
541
that of an ark, covered with gold, at the two ends
of which were placed the cherubim to cover over
the mercy-seat, from whence Jehovah was supposed
to speak. (Ps. lxxx. 1.) The apostle Paul gives a
short description of the tabernacle, and the furni-
ture in it, (Heb. ix. 1, 8cc.) — and speaking of the
cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat, he
saith, " of which we cannot now speak particularly."
The Hebrews called the mercy-seat Caphoreth,
from the word Caphar, to expiate or pardon. And
very probably the church had this in view when she
said : " My beloved is unto me as a cluster of cam-
phire (copher) in the vineyards of Engedi." (Song
i. 14.) If, as it is believed, that it is Christ she is
then praising, with an eye to his propitiation, when
she thus expressed herself, it is very striking and
beautiful. Jesus is indeed the true and only pro-
pitiatory and propitiation ; and what a sweet addi-
tion to the blessed subject is it, that he is "the pro-
pitiation whom God the Father hath set forth
through faith in his blood!" So that our faith finds
a double warrant — first, in the completeness of the
propitiation itself, and, secondly, in God's appoint-
ment of it. And how can a soul come short of
salvation that acts faith upon the infinite merits of
God the Son's righteousness, and the infinite faith-
fulness of God the Father's grace ? See propitia-
tion.
MERODACH-BALADAN. King of Babylon, Isa.
xxxix. 1. — signifying sorrow.
MEROM. Josh. xi. 5. The word means waters.
MEROZ. A place near the brook Kishon. (See
Judg. v. 23.) The word signifies secret. Perhaps
in those times of trouble the inhabitants here se-
creted themselves.
MESHA. King of Moab, 2 Kings iii. 4. The name
hath been thought to signify burden.
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M E
MESHACH. The name given by the Chaldeans to
Mishael. See Abednego. Meshach, if derived
from Mashac, means drawn by force.
MESHULLAM. There were several of this name
in Scripture. (See 1 Chron. ix. 7, 8. 12. 2 Chron.
xxxiv. 12. Neh. iii. 4. 6.) The name is derived
from Shalam, peace.
MESOPOTAMIA. A province rendered remark-
able for the first peopling of the earth afier the
deluge. The meaning- of the word is, between
two rivers — perhaps from Potamos, river.
MESSENGER. There would have required no notice
of the office of a messenger, by way of explaining
the nature of it, being perfectly well understood,
hd it not been that our Lord Jesus Christ, when
becoming our Redeemer, condescended to submit
to this office also ; but as the Lord Jesus, in his
unequalled humility, vouchsafed to be the servant
and messenger of Jehovah, every moth e of affection
and duty demands our attention to behold Jesus in
this most gracious character. The reader will have
a better apprehension of the title when he is told
that the same word translated messenger is also
translated angel. Thus in Malachi, iii. 1. it might
be read, the angel of the covenant. In like manner
prophets, teachers, and ambassadors, are not un-
frequently called messengers. (Mai. ii. 7. 2 Kings
xvi. 7.) The infinite graciousuess and condescen-
sion of the Lord Jesus in this character, serves
therefore to recommend and endear him yet more
to our heart; and blessedly Jesus speaks of it to
his disciples. "Whosoever will be great among
you, (saith that humble Lord) let him be your mi-
nister ; and whosoever will be chief among you,
let him be your servant ; even as the Son of man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matt. xx.
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543
27, 28.) And it is most blessed indeed, to behold
the Lord of life and glory thus engaged in all
offices, and filling all characters, relating to his me-
diatorship. He is the all in all of the whole cove-
nant. At the call of his Father, he stood up from
everlasting, the Head of his church and people, that
he might fill all things. Hence to him the cove-
nant of redemption was given ; by him the whole
covenant was fulfilled; in his almighty hand all
the blessings resulting from the covenant are placed ;
and froffi him all must flow, in grace here, and glory
hereafter, to his whole body the church. So that
Jesus appears most lovely and engaging as Jeho-
vah's covenant in the full, and as the Surety of it,
the Messenger of it, the Fulfiller of it, and the Admi-
nistrator of it, both in time and to all eternity. Hail,
almighty Messenger of thine own and thy Father's
will to mankind, " thou Messenger and Interpreter,
one among a thousand, to shew unto man Jehovah's
uprightness ! Be thou all my salvation, and all my
desire ; for thou hast made and finished thine ever-
lasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure."
MESSIAH. The Anointed. This term is peculiarly,
and by way of eminency, applied to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Mashah or Meshiah of the Father, full
of grace and truth. Hence, with pointed and per-
sonal distinction, God the Father is represented in
the Scripture as saying : " I have laid help upon one
that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out of
the people ; I have found David my servant ; with
my holy oil have I anointed him." (Ps.lxxxix. 19, 20.)
And no less God the Holy Ghost, in his divine
office and character, in the economy of human re-
demption, is represented as ordaining and anoint-
ing Christ, as Christ, to the great work of salvation;
for both Christ and his church came under this
office-act of God the Spirit. For as Christ could
$44 M E
not have been Christ without the unction of the
Holy Ghost, so neither could the church have been
the church, the spouse of Christ, the Lamb's wife,
without sovereign agency. And it is very blessed
to behold in the Scriptures of truth the testimony
of Jehovah to this grand doctrine of Christ the
Messiah, as the Christ of God. Hence we find
Christ speaking as Glory-man Mediator. (Isa. xlviii.
16, 17.) " Come ye near unto me, hear ye this :
I have not spoken in secret ; from the beginning,
from the time that it was, there am I ; and now the
Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Thus saith
the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I
am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit,
which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go." In all these views, therefore, of Christ as
Christ, we discover the work of the Father and the
Holy Ghost. For one of the names of the Lord
Jesus in the Old Testament is, the Messiah, that is
the Anointed, as well as in the New ; and as it is
expressly said concerning him in the New Testa-
ment, when he appeared in the substance of our
flesh, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Ghost, Acts x. 38. — so evidently was he
called the Messiah, and consequently to answer
that name was, and is, from everlasting, the anoint-
ed of God by the Holy Ghost, before he openly
manifested himself under that character in our flesh.
Such then was and is the glorious Messiah, the
Christ of God ; and such we accept and receive him
to his body the church.
I might detain the reader were it not for enlarg-
ing this work beyond the limits I must observe, with
offering several most interesting reflections, which
arise out of this view of our now risen and exalted
Messiah as the Messiah, the Christ of God ; but
for brevity's sake, I shall only beg to offer this one
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545
observation, namely, how sweet and strengthening
a testimony such views of Jesus give to the faith
of the church, when receiving Christ as the anointed
of the Father and the Holy Ghost. Recollect in
that blessed portion just now quoted what the Me-
diator saith as Mediator — u Come ye near unto me,
hear ye this ; I have not spoken in secret ; from
the beginning, from the time that it was, there am
I ; and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent,
me." Was there ever any thing more full in point
and in proof of this blessed doctrine concerning
the Messiah ? What could the Lord Jesus by the
spirit of prophecy mean, but that he would have
his church, when receiving him, read his credentials,
and mark well his high warrant and authority.
There should be no shyness, but his people should
come near unto him; for this was not a new thing,
a new doctrine, it was from the beginning, yea,
before all worlds Jesus was spoken of, in his medi-
atorial character, as set up from everlasting; nei-
ther was it whispered in secret, but openly, in the
first revelations, the man-nature of the seed of the
woman, the anointed of the Father and the Holy
Ghost, was all along declared, that it was, and that
lam, saith Christ. Blessed view of Jesus this, and
precious to the strengthening of the faith of God's
people. Methinks I would cherish it with all the
warmth of affection ; I would carry it about with
me wherever 1 go : and beg that God the Holy
Ghost would cause it to be my complete unceasing
encouragement in all approaches to the throne of
grace, and in all ordinances of worship. This is the
warrant of a poor sinner's hope and confidence.
Christ, as Christ, as the anointed, as the Messiah,
is the sure appointment and ordinance of heaven.
In him we draw nigh by divine authority. Christ is
jiot only suited to carry on all the purposes of our
VOL. VI. 2 N
'G4G
great High Priest, but acts in that blessed office by
divine authority, and by the validity of an oath.
u The Lord sware and will not repent, thou art a
priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec.
(Ps. ex. 4.) Hence, therefore, the Lord Jesus, in
effect, speaks to every poor sinner as he did to the
woman of Samaria — " If thou kne west the gift of God,
and who it is, and by what authority he saith to thee,
Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water." (John
iv. 10.) Such is the blessedness of receiving Christ,
and living upon Christ, as the Christ, the Messiah,
of God.
METHUSALEH. Son of Enoch. (Gen. v. 21. 27.)
This man attained the longest age ever recorded,
even nine hundred and sixty-nine years. His name
carries somewhat of an idea respecting it ; one who
demands his death, from Shelah, to demand ; and
Muth, death. Some derive Methusaleh from
Sheol, grave. But the meaning in either sense is
the same.
MICAH. There were many of this name in Scrip-
ture. (See 1 Chron. ix. 15. 2 Kings xxii. 12.
1 Chron. v. 5 ; xxiii. 20.) But the one of emi-
nency to be particularly noticed in a work of this
kind, is Micah the Morashite, that is, of Moresa,
a village in the south of Judah. He is one of
what is called the lesser prophets ; and his pro-
phecy forms a part of the sacred Canon of Scrip-
ture. His name is probably from Macac, poor, low,
humble ; though some read it Michaiha, and form it
into a question, Who is like to Jehovah ?
MICAIAH. The son of Imlah, whom Ahab hated,
(1 Kings xxii. 8.) His name is the same in derivation
as the former. We meet with another Micaiah or
Michaiah, son of Gemariah, in the days of Jere-
miah. (See Jer. xxxvi. 11, &c.)
,47
MICHAEL. The name is a compound of Mi,
who — Co, the same — and El, God — so that
Michael means, one with God. We meet with
this name only five times in Scripture : thrice in
the prophecy of Daniel, chap, x 13. 21 — xii. 1,
once in Jude 9, and once in Rev. xii. 7. I beg
the reader to look to each of those passages ; and
when the several portions where this person is
spoken of are fully considered, I leave it to the
reader's own determination, hoping God the
Spirit will be his teacher, who it is that is meant
by Michael. See Archangel. — Malachi.
MICHAL. Saul's daughter. (1 Sam. xviii. 20.) The
name signifies, who is it all ? from Mi and Col, the
whole. Her history we have in the Scriptures of David.
MICHMASH. A place about nine miles from
Jerusalem. (1 Sam. xiii. 5.) The name is sup-
posed to be derived from Nacah, to strike.
MIDIAN. The chief city of the Midianites. (See
Num. xxii.) The name is derived from Niddin,
judgment There were several persons called
Midian in Scripture. And it is thought by some,
that the Midianites were descendants of Midian,
Abraham's son. (Gen. xxv. 2.) Supposing this to
be well founded, we may learn from hence, what
evils spring out of illicit connections. Abraham's
concubine, Keturah, brings forth a son, whose
descendants shall vex Abraham's lawful heirs to
great afflictions. (See Num. xxv. 16 — 18.) And
are not all the affections and lusts of our fallen
nature, like illicit connections, continually haras-
sing our spiritual joys !
MIGDAL-EL. We meet with mention of this
place, Josh. xix. 38. The meaning of the name
is very plain, from Migdol, tower — and El, God,
the tower of God.
MIGDAL-GAD. A city of Judah. (Josh. xv. 37.)
2 n2
548
MIGDOL. A tower remarable in Israel's history,
to which they arrived soon after their leaving
Egypt. (Exod. xiv. 2.) Here it was Israel was
commanded to encamp before the sea, where the
Lord meant to display such a miracle in opening
a way through it for Israel's safety, and the Egyp-
tians, overthrow. And as this was at the very
mouth of the sea, namely, Pihahiroth, which
signifies the opening of the Foramen, and where
Baalzephon, the dunghill god of Egypt, was sup-
posed to watch to catch runaway servants, the Lord
here made the triumph more conspicuous in sight of
his enemies. (Seethe history, Exod. xiv. throughout.)
MIGRON. A village near Gibeah. (1 Sam. xiv. 2.)
It means perhaps fear, from Magar.
MIKLOTH. There were two of this name, one
the son of Abi Gibeon, (1 Cor. viii. 32.) and a
Mikloth, one of David's worthies. (1 Chron.
xxvii. 4.) If the name be derived from Makel,
it signifies rods or staffs.
MILCAH. We meet with two of this name, one
the daughter of Aram, (Gen. xi. 29.) and the
other, the daughter of Zelophehad, (Num. vi.
26. 33.) The name is derived from Malkah, queen.
MILE. The Hebrews did not measure by the mile,
but by the cubit. Our translators of the Bible have,
however, very properly, rendered the measurement
by the English standard ; so that a mile, in our
language, corresponds to two thousand cubits, and
a furlong is the eighth part of a mile.
MILETUS. The place where Paul left Trophimus
sick. (2 Tim. iv. 20.) It should seem that there
was another place of this name near Ephesus.
(See Acts xx. 17.)
MILK. It would have been unnecessary to have
noticed this article, if information concerning
what it is as food had been all that was intended
549
from it ; but as the term is figuratively made use
of in Scripture to describe spiritual blessings, it
may be proper to notice it in a work of this kind.
The Holy Ghost was graciously pleased to point
out some of the precious things in the person,
work, and offices of Christ under this figure.
The dying Jacob, speaking to his children in allu-
sion to the times of the gospel, describes the
spiritualJudah, among other distinguishing features
of character, as having " his eyes red with wine,
and his teeth white as milk." (Gen. xlix. 12.)
And the church, as if giving testimony to the
accomplishment of the patriarch's prophecy, com-
pares her Beloved's eyes to " the eyes of doves,
by the rivers of water, washed with milk." (Song
v. 12.) Perhaps both images were meant to set
forth the Redeemer, in that sweetness and love-
liness of character, as blending the tender affec-
tions of his heart towards his people, like the
softness of milk flowing in upon the souls of his
redeemed, with a fulness of pity and compassion.
And as the Holy Ghost thus drew the portrait of
Jesus by the figure of the milk, so the same
almighty Lord, in various parts of his holy word,
hath described the church, and especially the
the younger babes in Christ, as nourished by "the
sincere milk of the word." (1 Pet. ii. 2.) Yea,
Christ himself tells his church, that "her lips
dropped as the honeycomb, and both honey and milk
were under her tongue." (Song iv. 11.) There
is a great beauty as well as tenderness in our
Lord's expression. For in the eastern world, we
are told by historians, that they had a certain food
made of milk and honey, called by the Greeks
Meligala ; and it was the custom to give a portion
of this to the new-married bride on entering her
husband'shouse. As the Lord Jesus therefore is here
550
speaking of his church, having betrothed her to
himself under this character, his gracious salu-
tation of her with these words is uncommonly
beautiful and affectionate. And whenever the soul
of a poor sinner is made glad in receiving the
milk of the gospel, and Christ is apprehended in
all his glory, suitableness, and all-sufficiency, no
doubt, the droppings of the lips will be like honey
and milk under the tongue, for " out of the abun-
dance of the heart the mouth will speak.'5
I must not dismiss our attention to this article
until that I have first yet farther remarked, that
God's promise of Canaan to his people of old was
under the same type of bringing them into a land
" which is the glory of all lands, a land flowing
with milk and honey." (Exod. iii. 8.) And both
the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of glory,
comprehending all sanctified temporal mercies,
with all spiritual and eternal blessings, may well be
represented under those rich figures. See Honey.
MILL. The use of the mill in the eastern world
was very ancient, and peformed by the lowest of
the people. So that when describing the different
ranks whom the Lord would destroy in the general
destruction of the first-born in Egypt, the phrase
is, u from the first-born of Pharoah that sitteth upon
his throne, even unto the first born of the maid ser-
vant that is behind the mill." (Exod. xi. 5.) Hence
when the Philistines had put out Samson's eyes, they
bound him in fetters of brass, and compelled him
"to grind in the prison-house." (See Judges xvi.21.)
There is a very gracious precept in the law of
Moses on the subject of grinding, which serves to
shew the Lord's tender compassion over his peo-
ple. " No man shall take the nether or the upper
millstone to pledge, for he taketh a man's life to
pledge." (Deut. xxiv. 6.) In what a very sweet
551
and engaging point of view doth this represent the
Lord ! And when the precept is heightened in
relation to spiritual bread, with what affection
may the poor look unto Jesus, the bread of life,
concerning it !
MIRACLE. Miracles in Scripture are designed,
for the most part, as so many testimonies in proof
of the doctrine delivered at the same time. Thus
the Lord Jesus saith, " The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me." (John
x. 25.) And when in concurrence with miracles,
the word of God, and the works of God are joined
together, these establish and seal the truth as it is
in Jesus. There were certain particularities in
the miracles of the Lord Jesus, which marked his
divine nature in the performance of them in a way
and manner different from all his servants. They
performed all the miracles they wrought by the
appointment and in the name of the Lord. Jesus
wrought his in his own name. It is true indeed,
in the instance of the resurrection of Lazarus from
the dead, the Lord Jesus first addressed his Fa-
ther : but then he assigned the special reason for
so doing; because "of them, said Jesus, that stood
by, that they might know and believe that the
Father had sent me.'1 At the same time pro-
claiming himself as the resurrection and the life,
and giving proof of it by becoming so to Lazarus.
(See John xi. 23 — 44.) In addition to this, it
should be farther remarked, that the miracles of
the Lord Jesus were many of them of a personal
kind, and not unfrequently wrought without any
immediate cause in confirmation of his doctrine,
but to set forth his gracious character of Re-
deemer. In those acts of Christ in which he
manifested forth the sovereignty of his power, he
might be said to act in common with the other
552
persons of the Godhead : and the Father, and the
Holy Ghost, had a joint interest in these things
with himself. But in those actions of the Lord
Jesus peculiar to the Mediator as Mediator, and
where, from having as Son of God abased himself
for the purposes of salvation, he manifested forth
the miracles he wrought, here the glory of the
work became personal, and belonged wholly to
Jesus as Mediator. I need not particularize in-
stances, else I might observe, that the healed
paralytic, the cleansed leper, the centurion's son,
the water turned into wine ; these, and the like
are all of the personal kind. And perhaps it is
not among the smallest instances of Christ's per-
sonal glory and grace, from the actions of miracles,
that the Lord Jesus in all he wrought testified his
personal love and mercy to his people. The evan-
gelist John is careful to inform the church, that
" the beginning of miracles in Cana of Galilee "
was shewn in converting water into wine ; as if to
say, such are the blessings of the gospel. Our
common mercies will be made rich mercies ; and
the nether springs in Jesus, if for his personal
glory, shall become upper springs in Jesus. And
this is still the more striking, because under the
law the first miracle of his servant Moses was
manifested in converting water into blood ; but
Jesus's first miracle shall be converting water into
wine. Sweet thought to the believer ! Jesus's
person, and Jesus's grace, give a softening and a
converting blessing to all our states and circum-
stances. And what an argument of the most per-
suasive nature ariseth therefrom to look unto him
under every exercise, and to wait his grace
in every dispensation. Here it is, as in Cana of
Galilee, Jesus manifesteth forth his glory, and his
disciples believe on him. (John ii. 11)
55S
MIRIAM. The sister of Moses and Aaron, and
daughter of Amram. She was older than Moses,
for she watched over him when placed in the ark
on the river, and it is probable that she was older
than Aaron. Her name is derived from Mara,
which signifies bitterness. But if, as is more gene-
rally supposed, the name is derived from her fa-
ther's, Amram signifies exalted. (See Exod. ii.
4, &c.)
MISHAEL. Him to whom the Chaldeans gave the
name of Meshach. (See Dan. i. 7.) The mean-
ing of Mishael is, one asked for of God, See
Abednego.
MITE. A small Roman coin, so small, and of so
little value, that we are told two of them made a
farthing : (Luke xxi. 2.) — and yet the Lord Jesus de-
clared, that this was a costly offering when thrown
in by the poor widow into the treasury. Sweet
thought to the truly charitable in Christ, teaching
that it is not the largeness of the gift, but the
largeness of the heart with which alms are given,
that constitutes the value in the sight of God,
and when given for his glory !
MITHCAH. An encampment of Israel. (Num.
xxxiii. 28.) It should seem to be derived from
Mathac, sweetness.
MITHREDATH. (See Ezra. iv. 7.) His name
seems to be derived from Thur, law, and is meant
to convey an idea of one studying the law.
MITYLENE. The place where Paul passed in his
way from Corinth to Jerusalem. (See Acts xx. 14.)
According to the Greek, the name means clean-
liness.
MIZAR. A little hill. The Psalmist speaks feel-
ingly of this, Ps. xlii. 6.
MIZPEH. A city of Judah. (Josh. xv. 38.) Per-
haps the same that is spoken of by Samuel, where
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M I
he set up, between Mizpeh and Shur, the Ebenezer.
(See 1 Sam. vii. 5 — 7.) The name signifies a
place of look-out, or enquiry.
Mizpeh and Tabor, in after-ages, were places
which lay in the path from Samaria to Jerusalem ;
so that here the priests of the calves set spies,
which Hosea the Prophet figuratively called nets,
to catch the pure worshippers who ventured, in
those dangerous times of idolatry, to go up to
worship Jehovah at Jerusalem. (See Hos. v. 1.)
MOAB. The founder of the Moabites. Moab was
the Son of Lot, by incest. An awful origin, and
an awful progeny followed, in the sworn foes to
God and his Israel ! (See Gen. xix. 31 — 37.)
The name signifies of his father.
MOLOCH. A king, the god of the Ammorites.
(Acts vii. 43.) The Scriptures of God speak of
Moloch upon several occasions in such a iuanne.-
as make the subject very interesting to enquire
into particulars concerning this horrid idol. The
first account we meet with of this dunghill
deity is in Leviticus, (chap, xviii. 21.) where the
Lord prohibits Israel from allowing of any of his
seed to pass through the fire to Moloch. It should
seem, that the method in those acts was simply
passing through ihe flame ; and as this carried with
it an idea of much personal bravery, it is likely that
the children of Israel were much disposed to rival
their neighbours in this supposed act of courage.
Hence the Psalmist laments this degeneracy of
Israel, in the one hundred and sixth Psalm, from
the sixth verse almost to the end. Hence the
prophet Amos, chap. v. 25. and following verses,
laments it also. And Stephen, the first martyr,
charged it upon the Sanhedrim. (Acts vii. 42, 43.)
That this horrid custom prevailed to a great
degree is plain, from the relation we have of it,
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555
through many generations. Solomon built an high
place for Moloch, (1 Kings xi. 7.) and Manasseh
a long time after caused his son to pass through
the fire in honour of him. (See 2 Kings xxi. 1 — 6.)
And in the valley of Tophet, the prophet Jeremiah
speaks of those horrid transactions being carried
on. (Jer. xix. 5, 6, &c.)
But beside the Scripture account, the corres-
ponding history of the times furnish accounts which
are truly distressing to read. The idol itself was
made of brass, we are told, in the shape of a man,
with his arms extended to embrace. The whole
figure was hollow, and when any sacrifice was to
be made to Moloch, they heated the statue un-
til it was nearly red hot, and the wretched vic-
tim was then brought and put into the arms of
Moloch, where it remained until consumed. To
stifle the cries of the unhappy sufferer from being
heard, instruments of music were made use of,
which continued playing until the poor victim had
expired.
An historian of veracity, in addition to this
sad account of human superstition, arising from
our fallen state, tells us, that upon some occa-
sion where human sacrifices of this kind had not
been so frequent as they supposed necessary, and
fearing their dunghill god was displeased, by way
of atonement, they chose out two hundred of the
noblest of their children, and made at once a sa-
crifice of them publicly. It is truly distressing
to observe yet farther, that even to the present
hour the custom of the East but too much favours
this horrid practice. "The feast of fire," so called,
and indeed the general plan among the worshippers
of idols in the vast territory of Hindostan, afford
but sad instances of the savage custom of those
who immolate their children in this way.
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M O
I have been more particular in noticing, under
the article of Moloch, the general subject of human
sacrifices, by way of calling the reader's attention to
the happy state of the revealed word of God. Oh,
how blessed is it to discover, from the relation of
such things, the preciousness of that one sacrifice
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, whereby
" he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
MONTH. We meet with constant mention in the
Bible concerning the months ; but it is remarkable,
that the Israelites had no particular names for
their months until after their connection with Egypt.
We read in Gen. vii. 11. of the second month,
when the fountains of the great deep were broken
up, and the ark rested on the seventh month upon
the mountains of Ararat, (Gen. viii. 4.) — and the
waters decreased continually until the tenth month.
Afierthe Exodus took place, and Israel went out
of Egypt, we find names first began to be given
by the Hebrews to their months, though still num-
bering them as before. Thus for example — " This
day came ye out, in the month Abib." (Exod. xiii. 4.)
And so again, (Deut. xvi. 1.) u Observe the month
Abib, (Chodesch Abib) the Lord thy God brought
thee forth out of Egypt by night." But they did
not lose sight of their numbering their months*, and
calling them by their numbers. The children of
Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is
between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day
of the second month, after their departing out of
the land of Egypt. (Exod. xvi. 1. So again, Exod.
xix. 1.) In the third month, when the children
of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt,
the same day came they unto the wilderness of
Sinai. And we find mention of months by number-
ing through all the Old Testament, and even in
the New. (See Num. i. 1, Ezra iii. 8. Jer. xxxvi. 9
MO 557
Ezek. xxxi. 1. Hag. i. 1. 15. Zech. viii. 19.
Luke i. 26. 36.)
In Solomon's days we find names more particu-
lary given to their months, yet still preserving the
ancient method of speaking of their months after
their numbers. Thus 1 Kings vi. 1 , " And it came to
pass, in the four hundred and eighteenth year, after
the children of Israel were come out of the land of
Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over .
Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month,
that he began to build the house of the Lord." So
again, thirty-seventh verse, " in the fourth year was
the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the
month Zif; and in the eleventh year, in the month
Bui, which is the eighth month, was the house
finished," ver. 38. So chap. viii. 2. Solomon held a
feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh
month. But it was only in the time of Solomon
that the months were named, for we do not meet
with the mention of the months by names, except
that of Abib in Exodus and Deuteronomy, either
before or after Solomon, until the Babylonish cap-
tivity. But whether the name Abib, which signifies
green fruit, or ears of corn, and which was the
spring answering to our March, was so particularly
called in Egypt, and the Hebrews borrowed the
name from thence, or Solomon learnt the names of
Zif and Bui from the Phenicians when trading with
them, is not easy to determine, neither perhaps is it
important to know.
It is probable, however, that the Jews learnt in
Babylon, the custom of the Chaldeans, to mark
their months as they did by names, and from thence
(or the Persians, under whom for a time they dwelt
when the monarchy of Babylon was destroyed),
they formed the following to all the months in the
year.
558
The names of the months.
1. Nizan, which answers to March.
9 Tisiv
5. Ab
July
6. Elul
7. Tizri .........
10. Thebet
12. Adar
The Hebrews observed a distinct order in the
calculation of their time, as it related to holy seasons
and ordinary concerns. The holy year, as they
termed it, began in the month Nizan, correspond-
ing to our March, called in the Exodus Abib ; no
doubt, in obedience to that precept — " This month
shall be unto you the beginning of months : it
shall be the first month of the year unto you." (Exod
xii. 1, 2.) The ordinary year for civil concerns com-
menced with the Hebrews in the month Tizri,
answering to our September.
MOON. The great luminary of the night, formed by
Jehovah on the fourth day of creation, (Gen. i. 14
— 19.) Philosophers speaks much of this planet, in
respect of its magnitude, form, phases, tides, &c.
&c. But the great point in which we are taught to
regard the moon, is from what the word of God
saith concerning it. There we learn " that the
Lord appointed the moon for certain seasons, and
the sun knoweth his going down." (Ps. civ. 19,)
Moses also beautifully speaks of the peerless
majesty of this empress of the night ministering to
her Maker's glory, when describing in the lot of
Joseph's blessings the "precious fruits brought
M O
559
forth by the sun, and the precious things put forth
by the moon." Probably the sacred writer, in
allusion to those heavenly influences, meant to speak
of yet far higher blessings in the sweet work of
grace upon the soul, when Jesus, the Sun of righ-
teousness, brings forth the fruits of his Holy Spirit,
and causeth the soul from his influence, as the moon
borrows from the sun, to put forth all precious
things in him. Here is indeed the good will of him .
that dwelt in the bush. (Deut. xxxiii. 3.)
The moon is compared to the church, and con-
sidered a striking emblem of her; for as the
whole of her light is derived from the sun, so the
church wholly depends upon the Lord Jesus, and
only shines in the glory she draws from him. And
as the moon is subject to an eclipse, and hath her
waxing and waning times, so the church knows
how to be abased and how to abound. All her
enjoyments, all her splendour, usefulness, services,
depend wholly upon her Lord. When Jesus, the
Sun of righteousness, causeth his rays of light to
act upon the church, by their kind influences, the
church then like the moon from the sun, ministers
according to the divine appointment of her Lord ;
but if the earth comes between, that is, if earthly
affections intervene between Christ and the soul,
then, like the interposition in the planetary world,
there will be an eclipse. Hence in a day of
brightness, and light, and glory, the church is re-
presented in the Revelations as "a woman clo-
thed with the sun, and the moon under her feet."
Every thing of earth and earthly affections will be
under our feet, when our souls are clothed with
the bright robes of Jesus's righteousness, and
Christ himself " formed in the heart the hope of
glory." (Rev. xii. 1. Col. i. 27.)
We have a lovely description in the Canticles of
560
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such a view of the churcb, where Jesus himself is
beholding- her in this blessed state, and exclaiming
with delight, " Who is she that looketh forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an army with banners?" (Song vi. 10.)
The whole church of Jesus, and every individual
believer of the church, answers to this description.
The morning in a day of grace, though small, has
then the glimmerings of divine light in the soul ;
yet are they the sure harbingers of sun-rising, and
u mark that path of the just which shineth more and
more unto a perfect day." And the church is then
fair as the moon in Jesus's eye, though, like the
moon, when shining in her greatest brightness,
spots may be seen upon her, and all the light she
affords the earth is but what she first receives from
the sun. In herself she is after all but an opaque
body. What an exact resemblance to the church !
She is fair and comely, but it is from the beauty
and comeliness of her Lord ; she hath nothing of
her own, but all from him. But then she is still
not only fair as the moon, but clear as the sun.
Yes ! in Jesus the church is beheld, and in his
righteousness she is righteousness ; yea, the Lord
himself commands her so to be called, after the
name of her Lord and Husband, Jer. xxiii. 6. and
xxxiii. 16. And how terrible as an army of ban-
ners must the church be, thus looking forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun, let
the word of God decide. u The God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Rom. xvi.
20.) See Queen of Heaven.
MORDECAI. A name rendered memorable in
Scripture history, from the person so called being
made an instrument in the Lord's hand for the deli-
verance of his people, and the destruction of his
enemies. (See Esther chap. iii. and following.)
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561
The name of Mordecai seems to be derived from
Marar, bitter : or, as some have supposed, from
Mur, myrrh ; and Due, to bruise. We ought not to
dismiss our record of Mordecai with his name only,
since the Holy Ghost hath thought proper to give
the church so large an account of his history, in
the book of Esther, which is principally, if not
wholly, recorded for this purpose. No doubt, that
the almighty Spirit intended the relation of it for
much usefulness to his people in all ages ; and
therefore it becomes both our duty and our
wisdom to attend to it.
The faithfulness of Mordecai exposed him to
the anger and resentment of Haman the Hagagite.
This poor despised Jew could not in conscience
bow down and do homage to one of the spawn of
Agag. Mordecai knew well that Haman was of
that spawn ; and what was yet infinitely higher and
more important, he knew well, that the Lord had
sworn to have war with Araalek, (now changed in
name, but not in principle, to the Agagite) from
generation to generation. Let the reader, for his
information of the cause, consult Exodus xvii. 3,
to the end, compared with 1 Sam. xv. Hence,
therefore, the faithful Mordecai, zealous, like
another Phinea9, for God's cause and his people's
welfare, would not, for he dared not, bow down to
the sworn foe of the Lord and Israel. (See Num.
xxv. 1 — 13.) Oh, for grace to be found faithful
amidst all the Hamans and Agagites of the pre-
sent day! Oh, that the Lord would raise up, in
this sense, many faithful Mordecais from themidst
of our British Israel !
Reader, let us not turn away from this history of
Mordecai and Haman, until that we have taken
one instruction more. Look at Haman. What,
Haman ! could not all the glory, all the riches,
vol. vi. 2 o
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M O
all the multitude of children, that you boasted,
satisfy you? (See Esther v. 9. to the end.)
What ! had you your harem full of women for the
riot of your lustful hours, concubines upon concu-
bines, and the king's favour so great that none of
the princes stood so high as yourself, and shall the
sight of one poor miserable Jew, because he pays
you no reverence, be enough to throw down all the
props of this boasted grandeur? Must the blood of
this man be shed before that Hainan will acknowledge
himself to be happy ? yea, not this one poor Jew
only, but every Jew shall die for it, because Mor-
decai sat in the king's gate, and would not rise to
give you reverence ! (See Esther iii. 8, 9.) Is it
indeed so, and is this the case ? Ah, wretched,
wretched Haman ! what a representation you afford
of the state of a heart of malignity ! what a por-
trait of human life in all its highest characters void
of grace ! One baleful passion is enough, like the
dye of crimson, or of scarlet, to tinge and give a
colouring to the whole heart. Nothing can make
the prosperous sinner truly happy so long as this
spectre, like the Jew at the gate, riseth up and
haunts the imagination. Precious Jesus ! what
everlasting blessedness hast thou introduced into
the circumstances of our fallen state, when by thy
visit to our world, and redemption of our nature in
it, thou hast raised thy people from the ruins of the
fall, and cleansed our hearts by thy blood from all
those evil passions of our fallen nature.
MORIAH. A mountain, the name of which is well
known to the readers of the Bible. Here Abraham
was directed by the Lord for the offering up of his
son. (See Gen. xxii. throughout.) The name
itself is a compound of Mor and Jah, bitterness, or
myrrh of the Lord. Here, in after-ages, the temple
of Jerusalem was built by Solomon. (2 Chron.iii. 1.)
Tt will not be unpleasant to the reader if I add
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under this article, that Moriah, in the intended
offering- of Isaac, being typical of Christ and his
Calvary, as well as Isaac himself, may serve at all
times to furnish sweet subject of meditation. The
myrrh or Moriah of the Lord becomes no unapt
resemblance of Jesus, because Christ's suffering-,
like myrrh, had a bitter taste, though fragrant
smell. "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."
And the bruises of Jesus, when it pleased Jehovah
to put him to grief, while they affect in contem-
plation the heart of the redeemed, yet, like sweet
dropping myrrh, they distil all spiritual blessings in a
fragrancy most refreshing and delightful, in pardon,
mercy, peace, grace, faith, and all the blessings of
the covenant. Hence the church cries out, " All thy
garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the
ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.''
(Ps. xlv. 8.)
MORNING. There would have required no notice
of this word in a work of this kind, had the mere
sense of the meaning of the word morning been all
that was intended ; but the Scriptures of God have
so often made use of the term in a figurative way,
and yet more than that, have made so many beau-
tiful allusions to Jesus under the metaphor of the
morning, that I could not allow myself to pass it
by without offering upon it a short observation. It
would be too extensive to notice all the places in
both the sacred volumes where Christ is spoken of
as the light of the morning, and the day-spring
from on high, and the morning star, and the like ;
I shall only beg to select one passage, among the
many, in proof of the similitude, and that from
among the last words of David, (2 Sam. xxiii. 4.)
where, speaking of Christ, he saith, "And he shall
be as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth,
even a morning without clouds." There never
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surely was a more beautiful, a more just, more
enlivening- representation or figure of the Lord
Jesus than what those words have given. In
himself Jesus is all this, and infinitely more.
One with the Father and the Holy Ghost, he is
the first cause of life, light, and glory; incompre-
hensibly so, the fountain, source, and origin of
all that constitutes these infinite and eternal per-
fections. And in his mediatorial character and
office, he is essentially so, the light and life of his
people. So that when, in the eternal council of
peace, he arose to enlighten the Gentiles, and
to be the glory of • his people Israel, he arose, as
this Scripture represents him, as "the light of
the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning
without clouds." For in himself he is a sun with-
out a spot, a light in which there is no shade, a
perfection of glory and beauty without alloy. A
morning without clouds is a strong figure to denote
Christ's person, and not more strong- than just ;
for the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ are com-
plete glories ; nothing enters into them of an op-
posite quality. In ihe excellencies of creatures
there are certain properties which enter into their
composition, and which prove their imperfection ;
indeed their very nature implies as much. The
portrait, however beautiful, must have a shade.
But not so with the Lord Jesus. He is a morning
without a cloud. One of the old Puritan writers of
the sixteenth century, calls him u a sea of sweet-
ness, without one drop of gall."
And as Jesus is all this and infinitely more in
himself, so is he in ail that he is to his people.
His love, his grace, his salvation, all are as " a morn-
ing without a cloud." There is nothing of mixture
or imperfection in what he is to them, in what he hath
done for them, and what he will be to them, and
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with them in glory to all eternity. His covenant
is ordered in all things and sure ; his salvation is
an everlasting salvation. So that from the first
dawn of grace in their hearts until that grace is con-
summated in glory, the Lord Jesus is a sun that no
more goeth down, a morning without a cloud ;
for he not only giveth light, but is himself their light,
and their God, their glory. Surely no figure
comes up to our Lord Jesus with an exactness
more full and complete than the beautiful one the
Holy Ghost hath given bv his servant David, u he
shall be as the light of the morning when the sun
riseth, even a morning without clouds !"
Think of Jesus under this sweet figure, I beseech
you, reader ; yea, never lose sight of him if possi-
ble. Jesus is a morning indeed without a cloud.
MOSERA or MOSEROTH. The name means
binding, from Jasar, to bind. Deut. x. 6, it is
called by the former name ; and Num. xxxiii. 30,
by the latter. This place was made memorable
by the death and burial of Aaron. From hence
this great high priest of the Levitical dispensa-
tion will arise at the last day. Here he rests in
hope, who in his office was a type of our glori-
ous High Priest after the order of Melchizedec.
What a thought ! If the ashes of Adam, or Aaron,
or any, or all of the patriarchs were to arise
this hour, their bodies would be all alike uncon-
scious whether they had slept a single night, or
several thousand years. " Blessed are the dead,
said the voice from heaven, which die in the
Lord" — in union with Christ, and a part of Christ.
MOSES. The name (as the margin of our Bibles
states) means drawn out The illustrious history
of Moses forms so large a page in the sacred vo-
lume of the Old Testament, that it supersedes the
necessity of saying much about him here. He was
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a faithful servant in the house of the Lord : this is
the character given of him by the Holy Ghost. (Heb.
iii. 2.) And a blessed testimony it is ! But the same
testimony gives him no higher a character than a
servant of Christ ; and Moses himself thought this
an honour high enough. He was a type himself of
the law which he was commissioned to deliver ; for
as he was not permitted to enter into the promised
land, so he thereby represented that the law could
not bring God's people into Canaan, and conse-
quently not into heaven, of which Canaan was a
type. It is Jesus alone that can do this. u The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ." (John i. 17.)
MOTHER. The name is too tender, too common,
and too interesting to need much explanation ; but
though it is not necessary, in the ordinary accepta-
tion of the word, to dwell upon it by way of explain-
ing its meaning, yet it may not be amiss to remark
the general application of it. As a woman who
brings forth a child is by virtue of it immediately
called a mother, so the church, which brings forth
children to God in Christ is called u the Jerusalem
which is above, who is the mother of us all."
(Gal. iv. 26.) The name is applied to all that carry
this kind of maternity. The synagogue is called
the mother of the Jews. Where is the bill of your
mother's divorcement, (saith Jehovah by the pro-
phet) which I have put away ? — here mother means
the synagogue. (See Isa. 1. 1.) Babylon is called
the mother of harlots, Rev. xvii. 5. An holy ma-
tron is called a mother in Israel, 2 Sam. xx. 19,
Judg. v. 7. Our grave is called by Job our mo-
ther's womb, Job i. 21.
MOUNT and MOUNT OF THE LORD. We find
the church of Christ continually distinguished by
this name in the Old Testament Scripture, and as
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such we cannot pass it over without some attention
to the subject ; otherwise the name itself is too fa-
niilar to every reader to require explanation. In
allusion to the times of the gospel, the Holy
Ghost, by his servants the prophets, pointed to
the church under these figures. — " It shall eome to
pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the tops of the moun-
tains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and
all nations shall flow unto it." So proclaimed
both Isaiah and Micah, Isa. ii. 2. Micah iv. 1. So
Zechariah viii. 3. "Jerusalem shall be called a city
of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the
holy mountain." And the gospel itself, with all
its blessings, is described under the figurative lan-
guage of " a rich feast in the Lord's holy moun-
tain." (Isa. xxv. 6, 7.)
The church, in allusion to the same, and looking
forward to the coming of Christ, in a high and beau-
tiful strain of imagery, saith, " Until the day break,
and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the
mountains of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense."
The mountain of myrrh can mean no other than the
Lord's house, the church of Jesus. And the ex-
pression of myrrh is beautifully adopted to denote
Christ's sufferings on the mount, when his sacred
body was bruised, and the fragrance of his merits
became like the rich perfume of myrrh and frank-
incense which grew there. And if, as some think,
that both these figures of the mountain of myrrh,
and hill of frankincense, have peculiar reference
to the mount Moriah, where Isaac was intention-
ally offered up a type of Christ, the figure is
striking and just indeed. And what it is to the
church atdarge, such is it to every child of God
during the dark shades of night, until the day of the
renewed life breaks in upon the soul at conversion.
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Oh, that the Lord may graciously enable every
one of this description to say with the church, Un-
til the day of grace break, and the shadows flee
away, 1 will get me to the mountain, the church,
there the myrrh of Christ's fragrancy in sufferings
will refresh me, until the day of glory and the ever-
lasting light, unmixed with the shades of night, shall
break in upon my soul, and I shall then dwell in the
everlasting mountain of the house of God for ever !
Amen.
Perhaps the reader will be pleased to behold
the several most remarkable mountains of Scrip-
ture brough t into one point of view. I shall not
arrange them according to the order in which
they stand in the Bible, but, for the better appre-
hension and memory, in alphabetical order, together
with references to the Scriptures where the ac-
count of them may be seen.
Mount Amalek. So called from Am, people —
Lacac, to lick up, or take away. Tt is probable
that this mountain took its name from Amalek,
the grandson of Esau. (See Gen. xxxvi. 12.) It
was situated in Arabia Petraea, between the Dead
Sea and the Red Sea, or more properly speaking,
between Havilah and Shur. (1 Sam. xv. 7.) And
this Amalek, who gave name to this mountain, or
derived his name from it, was father to the race
of Amalekites, which were the deadly foes of Israel
from Israel's first departure from Egypt. And this
was the nation concerning whom the Lord sware,
that he wonld utterly put out their name from under
heaven, and have war with from generation to
generation. (See Exod. xvii. 8. to the end.)
Behold, reader, in the history of Esau's race,
and their bitter enmity against the seed of Jacob,
the type of that unceasing and everlasting war
which takes place between nature and grace,
between the children of the bondwoman and the
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children of the free. It is blessed when, from well-
founded evidences, we can say with the apostle,
" So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-
woman, but of the free." (Gal. iv. 31.)
Mount Amana. A mountain beyond Jordan, in the
tribe of Manasseh. It was situated near Cilicia,
and which divided it from Syria. Some suppose that
the river Abana, which is at the foot of it, took its
name from it. (See 2 Kings v. 12.) In the Ketib
it is written Abana, but in the Keri it is read
Amana ; and so the margin of the Bible hath it.
It was from hence Christ called his Spouse the
church — " Come with me from Lebanon, (my
spouse) with me from Lebanon : look from the
top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Her-
mon, from the lions' den, from the mountains of
the leopards;" (Song iv. 8.) meaning from the fel-
lowship of the evil, which is like the ferocity of
beasts, to the sweet communion of Jesus, in his
love, and grace, and favour.
Mount Calvary. See Calvary — Gethsemane —
and Golgotha.
Mount Carmel. This was a mountain in the land
of Judea, near the Mediterranean sea. It took its
name from the fruitfulness of it, being covered
with vines and corn-fields. (See Isa. xxxv. 2.
Amos i. 2.) Hence Christ, when describing
his church's beauty, saith, " Thine head upon thee
is like Carmel : " (Song vii. 5.) meaning, no
doubt, himself; for Christ is "the Head of his
body the church, the fulness which filleth all in
all." (Eph. i. 22, 23.) Here it was the prophet
Elijah did such wonders by faith, to the glory of
God. (See 1 Kings xviii.)
Mount Ebal. So called from Balah, old age.
Probably an ancient heap mouldering to decay, and
unfruitful. It was situated in Ephraim, near She-
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chem, over against Gerizim. (See Deut. xi. 29,
30.) See Gerizim.
Mount Engedi. The same as Hazzazon Tamar,
(2 Chron. xx. 2.) near the Dead Sea; a place
remarkable for rich vines. Hence Christ is com-
pared by the church " to a cluster of camphire
in the vineyards of Engedi." (Song i. 14.) See
Cluster.
Mount Gaash. This was the memorable sepul-
chre of Joshua, in Timnath Serah, in mount
Ephraim. (See Josh. xxiv. 30.) It should be
observed, that the mountains of Ephraim were
several detached portions of rising ground, here
and there, dispersed through the land belonging to
that tribe.
Mount Gilboa. So called from Gal, to change
— and Bahah, on enquiry. This mountain will
always be remembered by the readers of the Bible,
on account of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and
the beautiful elegy of David composed on that
occasion. It lay southward of Jerusalem. (See
2 Sam. i. throughout.)
Mount Gilead. Here it was Laban overtook
Jacob in his flight. (See Gen. xxxi. 33.) In after-
ages the place became memorable, and was formed
into a kingdom. (2 Sam. ii. 9.) The plains below
were well calculated for cattle ; and hence the
Reubenites and Gadites desired to possess it in
the general distribution of Canaan. (See Num.
xxxi. 1.) And we find the Lord Jesus, when
praising his church for the comeliness he had put
upon her, compares her to the flocks beheld from
this mount. u Behold, thou art fair, my love, behold
thou art fair; thou hast dove's eyes within thy
locks, thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear
from mount Gilead." (Song iv. 1.) It is, no doubt,
a lovely sight, from an eminence of rising ground
MO
571
to behold the plains below covered with the fleecy
inhabitants grazing in their pastures. But how
much more lovely to behold the Lord's flock, from
the mountain of the Lord's house, feeding in the
pasture of his word and ordinances, and by the still
waters beside which " the great Shepherd of Israel
leads his flock at noon." (Song i. 7, 8. Ps. ii. 3.)
Mount Gerizim. This mount lay on the other side
Jordan towards the way of the going down of the sun
in Canaan. And here it was that Moses commanded
Israel, from this mountain, to pronounce blessings
upon the people. (Deut. xi. 29, 30.) There should
seem to have been a special design in this appoint-
ment of the Lord by Moses ; for here it was, beside
the plains of Moreh, that Abraham first came, at
the call of God, when he left Haran. (See Gen.
xii. 1 — 6.) So that though Moses himself had never
been there, nor ever would, yet here blessings
should immediately, on their arrival, be pronounced,
to Israel's fidelity, in the very spot where, in ages
before, the Lord had first revealed himself to their
father Abraham. There is a great sweetness in
the connexion in proof of covenant love ; and I hope
the reader, as oft as he calls to mind mount Ger-
izim, will call to recollection this view of it. The
reader may find farther account of the blessings
which the Lord appointed to be pronounced on
mount Gerizim, Deut. xxvii. 11. and xxviii.
1 — 14. and the confirmation of the whole, as ful-
filled by Joshua after Israel had passed over Jordan,
taken Jericho and Ai, Josh. viii. 33. to the end.
Mount Hebron. So called from forming so-
ciety. It was situated in the land of Canaan.
Here Sarah died. (Gen. xxiii. 2.) This place be-
came a kingdom in after-ages, for David reigned
there. (2 Sam. ii. 11.)
Mount Hermon. This was called by the Sidoni-
72
ans Sirion, and the Arnorites called itShenir, (Deut.
iii. 9.) Its height was very great, and always cover-
ed with snow. The faithful in the Old Testament
celebrated the beauties of Hermon in their songs.
It was situated so near the temple, that it formed a
part of it ; indeed Zion is called Hermon. (Deut.
iv. 28-) See Hermon.
Mount Hor. This place was rendered memo-
rable by the death of Aaron. (See Num. xxi. 23.
to the end.) Hor was situated on the confines of
Idumea. The name is taken from somewhat that
conceives or shews.
Mount Horeb. The name means desart, a poor
dry place. Horeb was situated so near mount
Sinai, that it appears to be but one and the same
place, only that Sinai is east and Horeb west.
This mountain will always be memorable in Scrip-
ture ; because here it was the Lord appeared to
Moses. (Exod. iii. 1. &cc.) Here the Lord seemed
to stand, as if to intimate that the law was given
by Moses, u but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." (See also 1 Kings xix. 8.
Mount Lebanon. See Lebanon:
Mount Moriah. See Moriah.
Mount Nebo. The memorable mount where
Moses died. It was situated beyond Jordan. The
name is derived from a root which signifies to pro-
phecy : whether in allusion to the death of this
great man, so called, I presume not to determine.
But certain it is, that his death on this mount,
and by the express appointment of the Lord, is
very singular and striking. The Pisgah view which
Moses had of the land of Canaan from this mount,
must have been from special assistance from the
Lord. We are told that he saw from thence all
the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all the land of
Naphtali and Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the
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land of Judah unto the uttermost sea, together with
the south and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the
city of palm trees, unto Zoar. (Deut. xxxi, 1 — 3.)
So that the extremity on one view could not be
well less than three-score miles and on the other
more than double that ; a thing next to an impossi-
bility had not the Lord, for the purpose, superna-
turally assisted him. And is it not so with all the
objects of faith? Jesus himself, when beheld by
faith, is made lovely indeed to the eye of grace ;
but to the carnal " there is no beauty that we should
desire him."
I cannot dismiss this view of Nebo, and the
man of God's privileges upon it, without observing,
that all he saw was but a type and shadow of the
reality which believers in Christ by faith now en-
joy of a better country, which Jesus is gone before
to take possession of in their name. Old Testament
saints were far less blessed in this particular than
New Testament believers. They saw Christ's day
afar off, they rejoiced, and were glad. We have
seen that day accomplished, and brought nigh, and
by faith enter now upon the possession of it in the
promises. Oh ! for grace then in lively exercise,
in views more bright and clear than the Pisgah
sights from mount Nebo, to set the Lord always
before us, and daily to walk by faith in the closest
communion and fellowship with the Father and with
his Son Jesus Christ, till the Lord shall take us
home to himself in everlasting fruition, that " where
he is, there we may be also." Amen.
Mount Olivet. Sweet and sacred spot from
whence the Lord Jesus ascended, when having
finished redemption-work, he returned to glory !
and where, according to the voice both of prophets
and angels, his feet shall again stand, when the
mountains shall cleave in the midst, and Jesus shall
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come to reign before his ancients gloriously. (See
in confirmation Isa. xxiv. 23. Zech. xiv. 4. to the
end ; Acts i. 9 — 12.) This hallowed mount is si-
tuated at the east of Jerusalem, being separated
only by the brook Kedron, and the valley of Jeho-
shaphat. Here it was that David (typically of
Christ) went up barefoot and weeping, when he fled
from Absalom, as the Lord Jesus went by it when
he entered Gethsemane, and passed over the same
brook of Kedron. (See 2 Sam. xv. 22—30. John
xviii. 1. Matt. xxvi. 30— 46.) The reader, if not
much acquainted with the sacred history will be
surprized to find that the spot rendered so memo-
rable to David by sorrow should be prophaned by
Solomon his son. But so it was, when king Solomon
loved many strange wives, those illicit connexions
led him into idolatry ; hence we read that Solomon
built an high place for Chemosh, the abomination
of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and
for Moloch, the abomination of the children of
Amnion. (1 Kings xi. 1 — 7.) Hence, in the after-
reign of the good king Josiah, when the king re-
moved those idols, so much prophaned had been
this mount, that it had acquired the name of the
mount of corruption. (See 2 Kings xxiii, 13.) Bles-
sed be the Lord for taking away the corruption,
and making the spot infinitely more hallowed than
it had ever been before, by the presence and as-
cension of the Lord Jesus from it, when he had
finished the sacred purposes of his redemption.
Here would my soul, methinks, frequently wan-
der in sacred meditation, and contemplate by faith
that glory which shall be revealed. Here, I would
say, from hence Jesus ascended when he went up
on high, and led captivity captive, and received
gifts for men ; yea, when he received gifts for men
in the manhood of Christ Jesus, And here my
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contemplating soul would listen to the angel's words
who graced the Lord Jesus's triumph, and still
hear, in the ear of faith, their blessed tidings vi-
brating in the sweetest sound on my ravish e d
senses — " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner
as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts i. 11.)
Mount Paran. We find mention made of this
mountain by the name of El-paran. (Gen. xiv. 6 .)
And it was here that Moses, when rehearsing
the mercies of God to Israel, delivered those bles-
sed sermons which are recorded in the book of
Deuteronomy. (See Deut: i. 1.) The prophet
Habakkuk also, in that beautiful chapter of his, be-
gins his relation of the glories of the Lord from
this place. " God (saith he) came from Teman,
and the Holy One from mount Paran." Habak.
iii. 3.)
This mount formed a part of the desert of Arabia
Petraea, and lay south of the land of promise. The
name is derived from the Hebrew word pear, signi-
fying beauty. The place is rendered memorable
from events which are recorded concerning it in the
several providences of God. Here it was that
Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, fled from her mis-
tress, and here the angel of the Lord visited her.
(Gen. xxi. 14. — 21.) Here Israel, after leaving
mount Sinai, arrived and encamped, being so direct-
ed by the resting of the cloud. (See Num. x. 12.)
Here David found a refuge, in after-ages from the
persecution of Saul. (1 Sam. xxv. 1.) So that Paran
hath proved an asylum to the distressed on many oc.
casions, as recorded in the Scriptures ; and in how
many more that are not recorded in public memo-
rials, who shall say ! It is blessed when souls
under exercise find the Lord in the wilderness dis-
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pensations, who have missed such discoveries in the
peopled city. Hagar and David, and thousands
besides, have experienced a Paran when and
where they least expected it ; and wilderness straits
have sometimes brought forth such freedoms, as
to make the wilderness blossom as the rose. Where-
soever Jesus is, as he was to Hagar, and as he
was to David, when he speaks, and when he opens
the eyes to see his grace, we find near to us the
well of water "springing up to everlasting life."
So may my soul find many a Paran in the pre-
sent wilderness, and Jesus will sweeten and soften
all straits by the gracious enlargements of his
love.
Mount Pisgah. This is the same as Nebo, for
the word Pisgah only means hill or top, from Pasag ;
so that Nebo, Pisgah, and Abarim, are one and the
same, near mount Peor, over against Jericho, in
the country of Moab. (See Num. xxi. 20. Deut.
xxxiv. 1.) See Mount Nebo.
Mount Samaria. This mount, spoken of in the
Old Testament, became memorable, in after-ages,
in the New, for the worship of the Samaritans.
Hence, in the conversation the woman at Jacob's
well had with Christ, she seemed anxious to know
whether they were right. (See John iv. 20.) She
referred, no doubt, to what the Lord had said by
Moses concerning Jerusalem, Deut xv. 5. The
mount of Samaria formed a part only of Samaria ;
for Omri, king of Israel, built Samaria, and bought
the hill of Shemer, from whence Samaria took its
name. (See 1 Kings xvi. 23, 24.) We have reason
to bless the Lord whenever we hear or read of
Samaria, from that most interesting discourse, re-
corded by the Evangelist, which took place here
between Jesus and the poor adulteress. What un-
numbered discoveries of grace have distressed
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sinners found in those encouraging words of Jesus!
The constraint upon the Lord Jesus to go there to
seek and save this sinner, the unprepared, uncon-
scious state of her mind at the time, the tender
waitings of Jesus to the hour of her arrival at the
well, for he was first there, the tenderness and com-
passion in all that he said and manifested towards
her, his condescension in abiding with the Samari-
tans two whole days, and the effects wrought upon
the hearts of many of the people, as well as this
poor woman ; these, with numberless other inci-
dents which are found in Christ's visit to Samaria,
must always make the very name interesting to the
heart of a believer, and especially when the same
saving grace which wrought upon this woman's mind
hath taken place in ours, so that we can hold out
the invitation concerning Christ to others, which
she did to her countrymen: "Come, see a man
which told me all things that ever I did ; is not this
the Christ !" (Read the whole relation, John iv.
1—42.)
Mount Seir. This mountain (or rather mountains)
is at the south and east of the Dead Sea, near Moab.
The name should seem to have been taken from
Shahar, which means hairy : probably the mount
had a rough appearance. The mount itself is ren-
dered memorable from the patriarchal history. The
Horites originally possessed it, as we read Gen.
xiv. 6. But in process of time the descendants of
Esau. Moses relates that the children of Esau
destroyed the Horims, and took possession of Seir.
(Deut. ii. 12.) But what makes Seir an interesting
subject to the Lord's people is, that here it was
Jacob, in his return from Mesopotamia, had those
soul-exercises which we read of Gen. xxxii. 3 — 20.
And here, soon after, we find those gracious mani-
festations which the Lord vouchsafed to him,
VOL. vi. 2 p
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to strengthen his faith, and to prepare him for the
interview with his brother Esau. Read the close
of the chapter, and to the end of the sixteenth
verse of the thirty-third chapter.
Mount Sinai. So called from Senah, bush. This
place will be always memorable, from the law
having been delivered from it accompanied with
thunderings and lightnings, and all the other awful
demonstrations of the divine presence. Horeb,
and Sinai, are not exactly one and the same, for
they are evidently two distinct mountains. And
as Sinai is at the east, and Horeb lies west, at sun-
rise (we are told by travellers) the sight is very
magnificent. Sinai is all shining, from the sun's
beams, and yet forming a shade on Horeb ; so that
the one is bright, and the other dark.
Mount Sinai hath been always considered figu-
rative of the blackness, and darkness, and terror
of that dispensation which issued from it. And
what the apostle, by commission from the Holy
Ghost, said of it, Heb. vii. 18 — 21, plainly sets
forth the cause. It was a mount, Paul saith, that
"burned with fire, and blackness, and darkness, and
tempest ;" intimating the dread which must ever fill
the soul at the delivery of the law, when the soul is
filled with a conscious sense of having broken that
law, and stands under the conviction of it, as yet
unconscious of Christ. Moses himself tells us,
that he exceedingly feared and quaked. There
can be no enduring that which was commanded.
Hence the apostle Paul (to the Galatian church,
who seemed ignorant of this trembling of soul,
from not having been sufficiently humbled under a
sense of sin ; and were running back to a covenant
of works for justification,) cries out, " Tell me, ye
that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the
law?" (Gal. iv. 21.) As if he had said, do ye not
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hear the awful threatenings to disobedience, and
the total impossibility of being- justified by the law?
Such was, and is, and ever must be, mount Sinai
in the church. What a blessedness that we are
not come to it ; but delivered from it, " by the of-
fering- of the body of Jesus Christ once for all !"
Mount Tabor, in Galilee. The name, in Hebrew,
signifies a rising ; and as itwas centered in the midst
of a wide country, it hath been called the Navel
of Jezreel, similar to the holy land being called
the midst of the earth, as the margin of the Bible
renders it, the Navel of the earth. (See Ezek. xxxviii.
12.) The mount of Tabor is spoken of, as beautifully
covered with trees and herbage, and always afford-
ing a rich verdure. Hence, we find the Lord him-
self referring to mount Tabor as eminent among the
mountains. "As I live, saith the King, whose name
is the Lord of hosts ; surely as Tabor is among the
mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he
come." (Jer. xlvi. 18.) And the Psalmist celebrates
this mountain as rejoicing with Hermon in the Lord.
(Ps. lxxxix. 12.) Some have thought that it was in
mount Tabor the Lord Jesus was transfigured.
And if so, the Psalmist, by the spirit of prophecy
ages before, might well speak of the honour given
to this mount, for Jehovah's voice was then heard in
it, when he said of Christ, u This is my beloved Son,
hear him." (Luke ix. 12.)
Mount Zion. The last mountain to be noticed in
this work, according to the order of the alphabet ;
but the first in point of excellency and glory. We
may well cry out with the Psalmist on every account,
while we contemplate this holy mount, " Beauti-
ful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is
mount Zion ! Glorious things are spoken of thee,
thou city of God." (Ps.xlviii. 2. Ps. lxxxvii. 3.) The
name is derived Tzun, a monument raised up.
2 p 2
mo M 0
And considered as the church of Jesus, it is indeed
a monument of grace here, and glory hereafter,
raised up to all eternity ! Here David built his city
of David, a type of the city of God in Christ.
Here Solomon built the temple, a type also of
Christ's body. So that when in other Scriptures
(numberless as they are) we read that " the Lord
hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall
trust in it." (Isa. xiv. 32.) When we hear Jehovah
saying, "Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone.'' (Isa.
xxviii. 16.) And the Holy Ghost commissioning an
apostle to tell the church, that this is Christ. (I Pet.
ii. 6 — 8.) When, with the eye of faith, like John, we
behold "the Lamb standing on mount Zion, sur-
rounded with his redeemed." (Rev. xiv. 1.) Who but
must exclaim, in the language of inspiration, " Praise
waiteth for thee, O Lord, in Zion : and unto thee
shall the vow be performed !" (Ps. lxv. 1.) Reader !
what are your views, in contemplating this moun-
tain of the Lord's house, which he hath established
" in the top of the mountains, and of which he hath
said all nations shall flow unto it ?" (Isa. ii. 2. Micah
iv. 1. &c.) Are you come spiritually so, and by
faith, " to mount Zion : the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem : to an innumerable com-
pany of angels; to the general assembly and
church of the first-born, whose names are written
in heaven : and to God the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the
Mediator of the New Covenant ; and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of
of Abel ?" (Heb. xii. 22—24.)
Pause over the solemn and most interesting-ques-
tion ! Souls that are come, know their privilege,
and are conscious of their high calling ; and having
found peace in the blood of the cross, have con-
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stant access to a mercy-seat, and enjoy the sweet
Bethel visits, of daily communion with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ. The prophets,
with one voice, have described their privileges.
u The ransomed of the Lord (saiih one of them)
shall return and come to Zion with songs, and ever-
lasting joy upon their heads." (See Isa. xxxv. 10.)
" They shall come (saith auother) and sing in the
height of Zion, and shall flow together to the good-
ness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for
oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd :
and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and
they shall not sorrow anymore at all." (Jer. xxxi. 12.)
And all the prophets in like manner, describe this
blessedness of the gospel church in Zion. (Joel ii.
32. Obad. xxi. Zech. viii. 3.) Reader ! see to it,
that these privileges and these blessing are
yours.
MOURNING, We find in the early ages of the
church, great lamentation observed at the death of
their friends. The funeral ol Sarah is set forth
in this view. And still more, in that of the patri-
arch Jacob. Seven days the funeral halted at the
threshing-floor of Atad. And the astonishment of
the inhabitants of the land was so great, that they
gave a name to it, and called it Abel-mizraim ; that
is, the mourning of the Egyptians. (Gen. 1, 7 — 11.
We find that the Israelites themselves called all
places of their mourning by one name, Bochim,
that is weepers. (See Judges ii. 1 — 5.)
MULBERRY-TREE. There is somewhat sacred in
the mulberry-tree, and holy Scripture seems to
have pointed this out very strikingly, when direct-
ing the movement of the Lord's army to be, when
the people heard the sound of a going in the mul-
berry-trees ; for thereby they should know that the
Lord went out before them. (2 Sam. v. 24.) The
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Psalmist speaks of the church passing through the
valley of Baca (that is the mulberry-trees), meaning
soul exercises with the sweet fruit of divine love.
For when the Lord calls to trial, he gives to his
people a grace suited to support. (Ps. lxxxiv. 4 — 6.)
MUPPIM. The son of Benjamin. (Gen. xlvi.21.) The
word signifies the mouth.
MURDER. Every sinner is a soul-murderer. Hence
the prophet saith, " O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself ; but in me is thine help." (Hos. xiii. 9.)
MUSIC. Of the music of the Old Testament Scrip-
ture it is no easy matter to form a right apprehen-
sion. That the Hebrews were fond of music is
readily admitted. And that they excelled in the art,
can as readily be allowed ; since we find upon re-
cord, strong testimonies of the power and effect
upon the mind, both from the strength and charm
of the melody, and the skill of the performer.
David's harp quieted the disturbed state of Saul's
mind. (1 Sam. xvi. 14. to the end.) And in like
manner, we find other testimonies of the influence
of music. When Saul sent messengers to seize
David, the melody of the prophets so affected their
minds that they joined the chorus. And when
other messengers were sent, the same effect fol-
lowed. Yea, Saul himself felt the contagion, and
for the moment his passion of anger subsided.
(See 1 Sam. xix. 19. to the end.)
But, while all possible allowance is made to this
view of the music of the Hebrews, we cannot con-
ceive that all that is said of musical instruments in
the Old Testament Scriptures means literally so to
be received. The antiquity of music, no doubt,
gave birth, very early, to the invention. Jubal,
before the deluge, is said to have been " the father
of all that play on the (kinnor) harp, and (hugab)
organ." (Gen. iv. 21) Indeed, the very sound of the
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human voice is musical, and must have given rise
very early in the world to the invention. But after
all, it is not to be supposed, that every instrument
of flute, harp, sackbut, psaltry, and dulcimer, lite-
rally mean those things which we take them for. In
numberless instances we may conclude, that they
rather mean stringed instruments of the heart.
See the hundred and fiftieth Psalm and the like.
Hence the great variety of the names we meet with
at the head of numberless Psalms, can never be sup-
posed to refer to such things. Whether we com-
prehend their meaning or not, common sense might
suppose that somewhat higher is intended.
MUSICIAN. We meet with an address, or dedica-
tion, at the opening of very many of the psalms :
* To the chief Musician." And not a few have
been led to suppose, that it means no more than
a superscription to the master or chaunter who
presided over the temple-service ; as if the Holy
Ghost was more attentive to have the Psalm play-
ed or sung well with the instrument or voice, than
to have the blessed contents of the Psalm itself im-
pressed upon the heart. We do not know that
there was such an office over the choir as chief
musician ; certain it is, that neither the Chaldee
paraphrase, nor any of the other versions, say any
thing about this chief musician. Besides, if it be
supposed that David had such a character in his band
as chief musician, what authority is there to sup-
pose that the prophet Habakkuk knew of any such
a character ; and yet he also addresseth his hymn
to the chief singer. (See Hab. iii. 19.) I find an
author of no small authority observe, that the word
which (1 Sam. xv. 29.) is rendered strength, and
is a well known title of Christ, is not dissimilar to
the word in the Psalms rendered chief musician.
See Parkhurst's Lexicon, 410 and 49G. And in
384
confirmation of this, it is well worthy of remark
that Habakkuk;saith, (chap. iii. 19.) " The Lord God
is my strength." In this sense, the close of Habak-
kuk's prophecy will be rendered thus : " The Lord
God is my strength, and he will make my feet
like harts' feet ; and the Giver of victory, or my
stringed instruments, will cause me to tread on
my high places."
It should be observed, moreover, that the word
Lamenetz is rendered by the Seventy to the end.
And what end, but the end of Christ's triumphs by
virtue of his sacrifice ? And as Christ is " the end
of the law for righteousness to every one that be-
lieveth," may not those numberless sweet Psalms
which so plainly refer to him, be supposed to be
addressed to him as the end ? So we find the title
of the sixth Psalm, and the twelfth Psalm, to be
addressed to the chief musician upon Sheminith.
And every one cannot but know that these Psalms
are both of them spoken prophetically of the per-
son of Christ, the God-man-Mediator ; and therefore,
as such, surely it is doing no violence to the word
Sheminith, joined with Lamenetz, to suppose that
it forms an address to Christ, as the strength of
Israel in his Sheminith or abundant riches, suited
to his high character as the chief end of salvation
to his people. But as I have elsewhere said, in si-
milar observations in my " Poor Man's Commentary
on the Psalms," so I beg to add here, I do not
decide on the enquiry. I have thought it worth
while to give the views I have of it to the reader, and
here with humble requests to the Lord to par-
don every unintentional error, I leave the sub-
ject.
MYRRH. This aromatic gum is from a tree com-
mon in Arabia. The Hebrews called it Mur. It
formed a principal ingredient in the holy ointment
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585
for anointing the tabernacle and the vessels of the
sanctuary, and also Aaron and his sons ; and the
Lord forbade the use of it in common, or
any composition by way of imitating- it, on pain of
being- cut off from his people. Was not this a
striking type of the Holy Ghost in his divine offices,
and the awful consequence of attempting any thing
which bore a resemblance to the holy unction of
the Spirit ? (See Exod. xxx. 22—33.)
The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to mark out
so many things concerning the Lord Jesus under
the figure and type of myrrh, that we ought not to
pass over a short consideration of some of them at
least. Jesus himself is the sweet scented myrrh
of his gospel ; hence the church saith of him, that
he is K a bundle of myrrh," (Songi. 13.) meaning,
no doubt, that he is a cluster, a fulness, of all divine
and human excellences. Every thing in Christ, and
from Christ, is most grateful and full of odour to his
church and people; hence his garments are said
" to smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia" — all tempo-
ral, all spritual, and eternal blessings are in
him for his spouse, his fair one, his redeemed. " I
will get me (saith the church) to the mountains of
of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, until the
day break, and the shadows flee away." (Song
iv. 6.)
Myrrh is not only figuratively made use of to
denote the sweetness and rich odour of Jesus, in
his person, grace, and fulness, but the blesed Spirit
uses the figure of myrrh to speak of his sufferings
also ; yea, the offered myrrh mingled with wine to
Jesus on the cross, and which was among the pre-
dictions concerning the Lord in that solemn season,
plainly testified the bitterness of Christ's sufferings.
And the double quality of this Arabian gum, its
fragrancy, and its bitterness, formed a striking union
586
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to shew forth how precious a sacrifice of a sweet
smelling savour was that very death, which to
Jesus was gall and bitterness, indeed, in the extreme.
(Mark xv. 23.) And may we not suppose that the
Lord Jesus had an eye both to his own sufferings,
and to the sufferings of his faithful ones, who had
followed him to glory through persecution and not
unfrequently death, when he said : " I have gather-
ed my myrrh with my spice ?" for in his own per-
son he trod the wine-press of the wrath of God
alone, and may be said to gather the fruits of the
labour and travail of his soul when beholding the
blessed effects of it in the everlasting salvation of
his people. And in their lesser conflicts and ex-
ercises, the bitterness of their sorrows Jesus takes
notice of and gathers, when owning them for his
own, and bringing them home to his Father's house,
he brings them to himself, that where he is there
they may be also. Blessed Lord Jesus ! come as
thou hast said to my house, to my heart, while
thine hands are dropping with myrrh, and thy
fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh, and be thou
" like a young roe or an hart upon the mountains
of spices !" (Song v. 1. 5 ; viii. 14.)
MYSTA. A province of Asia Minor. Here Paul
preached. (Acts xvi. 7, 8.)
MYSTERY. Oh, what a mystery is the gospel of
salvation, and the blessed contents of it ! What
a mystery is that great and fundamental truth, "God
inChrist,and Christin God V (2 Cor. v. 19. Collos.
iii. 3.) What a mystery that Three sacred persons
should be in One, and yet the same eternal, undi-
vided, Jehovah ! (1 John v. 7.) What a mystery
Jesus speaks of when addressing the Father, and
speaking of himself and church — " I in them, and
thou in me !" (John xvii. 23.) What a mystery, yea,
what a great mystery, is godliness : " God manifest
N A
587
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory !" (1 Tim. iii. 16.)
And is there not another mystery, to every truly
regenerated believer, as great, yea, if possible,
greater than any, namely, that I should believe in
Jesus, and Christ be formed in my heart the hope
of glory, when thousands neither know the Lord,
nor believe the record God hath given of his
dear Son !
N.
NAAM. The son of Caleb. (1 Chron. iv. 15.) His
name signifies beautiful, from Nahom.
NAAMAH. There are two of this name in Scripture.
Naamah, the daughter of Lamech, (Gen. iv. 22.)
and Naamah the wife of Solomon, an Ammonitess,
(1 Kings xiv. 21.) The same signification as
Naaon, beautiful.
NAAMAH. A city of Judah. (Josh. xv. 41.)
NAAMAN. There are several of this name in the
Bible. Benjamin had a son of this name, Gen.
xlvi. 41 ; and a grandson, 1 Chron. viii. 4. And
Naaman, the Syrian, well known from the history
of his leprosy, and the cure of it by Elisha the pro-
phet, 2 Kings v. 1, &c. The name is the same
in meaning as Naam or Naamah, and from the same
root; and signifies beautiful or pretty.
The subject of Naaman's leprosy, and the won-
derful cure by the prophet Elisha, in the name of
the Lord, hath afforded large scope for the most
improving meditation. I refer the reader to the
588 N A
article Leper, for farther remarks on the nature of
the disease itself, and shall only add on that sub-
ject, that if such was the power of the servant of
the prophet in his Master's name, instantly to cure
this Syrian, what may we suppose, is the sove-
reign power and grace of the Lord God of the pro-
phets, to heal all the leprosies of the souls of his
people ! Would to God (I would say in the words
of the poor captive to her mistress) every poor
sinner convinced by the Holy Ghost of his leprous
state of sin, were with the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Almighty prophet of his church and people, for
He would recover him of his leprosy! (See
2 Kings v. throughout.)
There is one circumstance more, well worthy of
being noticed in this history of the cure of this Sy-
rian. It appears from this man's narrative, that he
was smitten with conviction, that the God of Israel
was the true God ; and therefore, he resolved from
henceforth, he would serve no other. But recol-
lecting the idolatry of his master, and knowing
that on his return he should, as before, be called
to go with the king to this idol worship, he thought
now to compromise the matter, and therefore beg-
ged the prophet to indulge him in this with his
pardon. " The Lord pardon thy servant (said he)
in this thing. " And it should seem the two mules'
burden of earth, he begged permission to take
home with him to Syria, were intended after each
renewed instance of bowing in the house of Rim-
mon, to be used by way of cleansing from their
sin. 1 do not decide upon the subject, but as we
know from historians that the sprinkling of earth
where no water was immediately at hand, was
occasionally used in the Eastern countries, in their
religious services in the stead of water, it is pro-
bable, this might be the object Naaman had in view,
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689
in craving the indulgence of carrying home two
mules' burden with him. The Syrian had found the
efficacy of Israel's sacred stream of Jordan, and
he concluded that the earth of Canaan was as sa-
cred also. As therefore, he could not take the
river with him, he desired a portion of the earth,
which he supposed would prove equally salutary
to the cleansing from sin.
But whether such were the views or not, with
which Naaman's mind was influenced, when he
desired the earth of Israel ; it may, at least, serve
to teach us a lesson from this Syrian's faith, how
to appreciate all our mercies in the Lord God of
Israel. How doth the faith of this man, and so
immediately wrought as it was in the mind of this
poor idolater, reproach the supposed followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who, after all the miracles,
and evidences, and testimonies, with which the
truth, as it is in Jesus, is brought home and con-
firmed to the heart, can hardly keep alive, from
day to day, a suitable dependance upon Him !
May we not take up the words of the Lord Jesus
upon this occasion, and say, as he did: "Never-
theless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he
find faith on the earth ?" (Luke xviii. 8.)
NAAMATHITE. We read of Zophar the Naama-
thite, Job ii. 11. The word is derived from the
same root as Naaman, and of the same meaning,
beautiful. And perhaps he came from Naamah, a
city of Judah. (See Josh. xv. 41.) But there is no
authority to form this conclusion.
NAARAT. One of David's valiant men. (1 Chron.
xi. 37.) The meaning of this name is, my young
children, from Nahar, youth.
NAARATH. A city of Ephraim. (Josh. xvi. 7.)
From Nahar, youth or child.
NAASHON or NAASSON. The son of Aminadab,
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in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matt,
i. 4.) The name is derived from Nichesh, and sig-
nifies a foretelling. Some derive it from Nechash,
serpent.
NABAL. The Carmelite. We have his history,
1 Sam. xxv. His name is very expressive, and sig-
nifies fool.
NABOTH. We have his history, 1 Kings xxi.
Same name in meaning as Nebajoth, son of Ish-
mael.
NACHON. Mention is made of this man but once
in the Scripture; namely, 2 Sam. vi. 6. His
name signifies prepared, from Cun.
NADAB. The son of Aaron. His awful death is re-
lated to us, Lev. x. 1, 2, with the cause of it.
His name signifies princely, from Nadab; We
meet with others of this name, Nadab, son of Jero-
boam, 1 Kings xv. 25. And Nadab, son of
Shammai, 1 Chron. ii. 30.
NAGGE. Son of Maath. (Luke iii. 25, 26.) His
name signifies brightness, from Nagah. This man
is in the genealogy of Christ.
NAHALAL. A city of Zebulon. (Josh. xix. 15.)
The meaning of this name is strength, from
HaUaL
NAHALIEL. A place where Israel encamped in the
wilderness, and is compounded of Nahal, brook —
and El, God. (Num. xxi. 19.)
N AHASH. There are several of this name in Scrip-
ture. Two kings of the Ammorites. (See 1 Sam.
xi. 1. and 2 Sam. xvii. 27.) And there was a third,
Nahash, father of Abigail, (2 Sam. xvii. 25.) It is
somewhat singular to find persons of this name,
for it is derived from Nachash, serpent. And so
the serpent is called, Gen. iii, 1.
NAHATH. Son of Ruel. (Gen- xxxvi. 13.) From
Nuach, rest.
N A
NAHBI. One of the spies sent to search out the
promised land. (Num. xiii. 14.) Probably derived
from Chadab, well beloved.
NAHOR. Father of Terah, and grandfather to Abra-
ham. (Gen. xi. 24.) Probably derived from Cha-
ror, choked. Abraham had a brother also of this
name. (Gen. xi. 26.)
NAHASSON. See Naashon.
NAHUM. One of the lesser prophets. He was a
native of Elkoshai, a village in Galilee, His name
signifies comforter. See his prophecy.
NAIL. It is worth while to consider the Scripture
sense and meaning of the word Nail ; seeing God
the Holy Ghost hath thought proper to describe
the Lord Jesus by this figure. Ezra had an eye to
Christ, no doubt, when he said, " The Lord God
had given the church a nail in his holy place !"
(Ezra ix. 8.) And the prophet Isaiah was com-
missioned to tell the church, that Jehovah would
fasten him "as a nail in a sure place," when des-
cribing Jesus under the type of Eliakim, the son of
Hilkiah. That all that is here said of Eliakim hath
respect to Christ is evident, because Jesus himself
so explains a portion of it, Rev. iii. 7. And Ezra,
who lived after the prophet Isaiah between two and
three hundred years, evidently had an eye to what
Isaiah had said in respect to Christ, in this beauti-
ful description. (See lsa. xxii. 20. to the end.)
It is a delightful view of the Lord Jesus. He is
a nail in a sure place, so that neither the nail,
nor the place can give way. And it is Jehovah that
hath fastened him. In his person, in his work, in
his offices, characters, relations, what he is in the
eye of God the Father; what he is in himself;
what he is to his people in all things, and for all
causes in time and in eternity ; for all purposes,
temporal, spiritual, and eternal ; Christ is fixed
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to be the nail on which shall hang both his people's
safety and welfare, u and all the glory of his Fa-
ther's house." And what tends to endear this view
of Christ still more is, that not only all, and every
thing relating to the kingdoms of nature, providence,
grace, and glory to the church at large, is so. but
to every individual of that church, " the vessels of
small quantity," meaning the lowest, the humblest,
the least, and most inconsiderable of his people,
all shall hang upon Jesus alike, " from the vessel
of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons." Sweet
thought to the humble, timid believer !
But the prophet, in the close of this relation,
saith, u that in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
shall the nail that is fastened in a sure place be re-
moved, and be cut down and fall." What is here
meant ? Not, surely, that what is fastened in a sure
place shall lose his hold-fast, or the vessels that are
hanging upon him lose their safety ; but, on the con-
trary, " by the removal and the cutting down," se-
cure the everlasting safety of all that hang upon
him. For it should be observed, that there is no-
thing said of the vessels hanging upon this nail in
a sure place being separated from the nail, or
being injured by the nail's removal and the nail's
being cut off, for the prophet adds," that the burden
that was upon it shall be cut off ;" and what is this
burden but the sins of Christ's people, u which he
bore in his own body on the tree when he died,
the just for the unjust, to bring us to God?" (1 Pet.
iii. 18.) " He was wounded for their transgressions,
and was cut off out of the land of the living ; for
the transgressions of my people (saith the Holy
Ghost by this same prophet) was he stricken." (Isa.
liii. 8.
I hope the reader will be enabled to make a
nice and just distinction in what is here said, and
N A 593
lie will then discover that so far is the close of this
j chapter, in the removal of this nail in a sure place,
and the cutting of it down, any objection to this doc-
trine, that it tends to confirm it still more. Jesus
is the nail on which his people hang their all, their
persons, life, and salvation ; so that between him
and them there never can be a separation, for
he saith himself: " Because I live, ye shall live
also." (John xiv. 19.) But while their persons, and
their present and eternal all are secured in him,
he is himself cut off and removed when bearing
their sins, and consequently their sins are cut off
never more to arise against them ; " for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it;" while he himself riseth
again as the nail fastened in a sure place, that he
may appear with all his people, whose sins he
hath borne, whose persons he hath redeemed, and
who are enabled by his grace to hang all their
high hopes of mercy and salvation upon him as the
Lord their righteousness.
NAIN. A city of Palestine, rendered memorable
from the Lord Jesus raising the widow's son from
death at the gate of this city. (See Luke vii. 11.)
The word is derived from Naham, beauty.
NAIOTH. The place where David fled from Saul.
(1 Sam. xix. 22.) It is in the plural number, and
means beauties, from the same root.
NAKED and NAKEDNESS. In Scripture lan-
guage, these terms mean somewhat more than the
mere uncovering of the body ; they have peculiar
respect to the soul. Thus Adam and his wife in
the state of innocency were naked, but not ashamed.
(Gen. ii. 25.) Whereas, when the soul is without
grace, unwashed in the blood of Christ, and un-
clothed with the robe of Jesus's righteousness, this
is a state of spiritual nakedness; hence Christ
describes the church of Laodicea in this awful
94
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state, arid yet unconscious of it. u Because thou
sayest, (saith Christ) I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked." (Rev. iii. 17.) So
that nakedness implies, in the scriptural and spirit-
ual sense of the word, a soul that is destitute of
all covering before God. A sinner unawakened,
unregenerated, hath nothing to clothe him against
the calamities of the rain, and storm, and tempest
of divine wrath; hence the whole of their corrup-
tion must appear ; and how then, independent of
every other consideration, can such an one enter
the kingdom of God ? " Here shall in no wise enter
into it " (saith the decided language of the word
of God when describing the glories of heaven,
and the characters that dwell there) u any thing
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomi-
nation, or maketh a lie." (Rev. xxi. 27.) Hence
sweetly doth Jesus admonish to take of him the
suitable covering. " I counsel thee (saith Christ)
to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear." (Rev. iii. 18.)
It was not perhaps without reference to some-
thing of the same kind, though not so explained
and brought to light as it is now by the gospel, that
the easterns went without sandals into the temple.
Moses at the bush was commanded by the Lord to
put off his shoes from off his feet, for the place
whereon he stood was holy ground. (Exod. iii. 5.)
Hence perhaps arose the custom of the priests mi-
nistering in the temple with their feet uncovered ;
and the frequent washings appointed in the Jew-
ish ordinances had a gospel significancy, to intimate
both the uncleanness and nakedness of our poor
N A
(alien nature, and both needing the cleansing by
Christ's blood, and the clothing- in Christ's righte-
ousness, with which to appear before God.
What a blessed thing is it that Jesus, when find-
ing his church in this state of spiritual nakedness,
and cast out as the child in the open field of na-
ture, to perish, passed by and bid us live ; yea,
washed us, clothed us, and made us beautiful in
his comeliness put upon us, that our renown wen
forth among the heathen for our beauty. (Ezek.
xvi. 1 — 14.) Surely, every child of God may
well say, "I was a stranger, and Jesus took me in;
naked, and he clothed me." (Matt. xxv. 35, 36.)
NAME. By the name is meant in Scripture, the per-
son of any one. Thus we read in Rev. iii. 4.
"Thou hast a few names in Sardis" — the meaning
is, thou hast a few persons there. So it is said,
"they that know thy name will put their trust in
thee." (Ps. ix. 10.)— The sense is, that the right
knowledge of the Lord can only induce a right de-
pendance upon him : and in this sense, what a
blessedness is there in the name of Jehovah !
Hence Moses, towards the close of his ministry,
adrnonisheth Israel to this proper apprehension
concerning Jehovah. " That thou mayest fear
(said Moses) this glorious and fearful name,
THE LORD THY GOD." (Deut. xxviii. 58.) And
what an infinite fulness is contained in this glori-
ous and fearful name ! Observe, not only The
Lord, that is Jehovah in his threefold character of
person, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but Thy
God, that is, God in covenant ; so that in this view
of the name of Jehovah, is included both his es-
sence, nature, attributes, perfections, counsel,
will, and purpose. All his gracious revelations in
the person of his dear Son, his grace, love, wis-
dom, mercy, and the whole constellation of glo-
696
N A
ries manifested in Christ and by Christ ; and so
running through the whole kingdoms of nature,
and providence, and grace, and glory ; so much,
and infinitely more, is included in this one view
of the glorious and fearful name of The Lord Thy
God.
And this may serve to explain, in some mea-
sure, the awfulness of taking this glorious and fear-
ful name in vain — a sin but little considered, but
yet most tremendously heinous. The Jews were
so tenacious of it, that they never made use of it
in their ordinary discourse, even when intend-
ing to speak with reverence ; but always substitu-
ted some other expression, to intimate their mean-
ing without using the very name. See Jehovah
under this particular.
And we find the Lord himself helping his peo-
ple, as it were, in this sacred regard which they de-
sired to have to his honour, by commanding them to
avoid all temptations to it, in prohibiting their use
of the names of the dunghill gods around them ;
knowing that the familiar use of the one, might in-
sensibly lead to the use of the other. u And in all
things that I have said unto you, (saith the Lord)
be circumspect : and make no mention of the name
of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy
mouth." (Exod. xxiii. 13.) And hence we find, in
after-ajges of the church, the Lord again interpo-
sing with his grace on this occasion, and saying :
" And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that
thou shalt call me Tshi, and shalt call me no more
Baali ; for I will take away the names of Baalim
out of her mouth." (Hos. ii. 16, 17.) The Israelites
were not only in danger from using the same name
of Baali, which signifies Lord, as their idolatrous
neighbours did, when speaking of their gods, but
they had been upon numberless occasions infected
N A
597
also with their idolatry. Hence the Lord graciously
promised, in this sweetand condescending Scripture,
to remove the temptation to this sin, by taking the
names of Baal and Baalim out of their mouths.
As if the Lord had said, by being called Ishi, my
man, the Lord would came home nearer to their
affections.
I must not dismiss this view of the glorious and
fearful name of Jehovah, of which we are so re-
peatedly told, in the word of God, the Lord is
jealous, without first begging the reader to remark
with me the very tender intimations the Lord
gives of this name, in the person, work, and righ-
teousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the
church sings, K Because of the savour of thy good
ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth."
(Song i. 3.) And when a poor sinner, sensible of
the loathsomeness of his own person, hath found
Jesus, and what is contained for all the purposes of
salvation in the person and glory of Christ, then is
the name of Jesus more fragrant than all the costly
perfume of the sanctuary. The soul then enters
into the enjoyment of all those names of Jesus
which the prophet hath described him by, in one
full constellation: "His name (saith he) shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace !"
(Isa. ix. 6.)
NAOMI. The wife of Elimelech. Her history,
and a most interesting history it is, we have in
the book of Ruth. Her name signifies beautiful
or pleasant.
NAPHISH. Son of Ishmael, Gen. xxv. 15— deri-
ved from Naphish, soul.
NAPHTALI. Son of Jacob by Bilhah. (Gen. xxx.
8.) The name signifies struggling. The margin
of our Bible saith, that Rachel called him thus,
598
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" my wrestlings." The patriarch when dying- gave
a particular blessing to Naphtali, and said "Naphtali
is a hind let loose : he giveth goodly words." (Gen.
xlix.21.) This prophetical blessing of Jacob hath not
been regarded in terms equal to its importance, ac-
cording to my apprehension ; and yet the Holy Ghost
seems to have called up the attention of the church to
it, upon various occasions, in his holy word. I would
ask, are not many of the dying patriarch's bene-
dictions to his children considered more with refer-
ence to Christ, than to the twelve patriarchs ? Do
we not consider the blessing of Judah, as one
whom his brethren shall praise, and as one from
whom the sceptre shall not depart, as having re-
spect principally, if not altogether, to the person of
Christ ? And are not the several blessings pro-
phesied of Joseph, on the dying bed of his father,
spoken directly with an eye to Joseph's Lord?
And if so, why may we not with equal safety, in
the blessing of Naphtali discover Christ also ? Is
Naphtali an hind let loose ? And can we overlook
that hind of the morning, even Jesus, whom the
hunters pursued, and the dogs of Bashan com-
passed around ? (See Psalm xxii. in the title of
it, and throughout the Psalm.) And when we read
what the church saith of her Lord, as a roe or a
hind upon the mountains of spices, and thus fre-
quently through the book of the Songs, surely it
can be no difficult matter to behold Jesus in the
type, and regard him who giveth goodly words.
I am the more inclined to those discoveries of
Jesus, in the view of Naphtali, because, in my
apprehension of the subject, Moses, the man of
God, in his dying benediction concerning Naphtali,
confirmed what Jacob in his dying moments had
before said concerning him. (See Deut. xxxiii. 23.)
u 0 Naphtali ! (said Moses) satisfied with favour, and
N A 599
full with the blessing- of the Lord, possess thou the
west and the south." And to whom are we to look
for any, or for all the tribes of Israel in the posses-
sion of the divine favour, and so satisfied with it ?
Of whom, among- the sons of Jacob, can it be said
with truth, " that they are full of the blessing of
the Lord," unless we first behold him in whom it
hath « pleased the Father that all fulness should
dwell," and from him, and in him, and by him, all
the seed of Israel "are justified and shall glory ?"
Surely it is blessed first to eye Christ as possessing
and being the cause of the true Naphtali's por-
tion, and then, by virtue of an union with him, and
interest in him, to behold those blessings flowing in
upon his inheritance. It is Jesus alone who hath
satisfied for sin, and with whom alone Jehovah is
satisfied ; and therefore Jesus, as the Head of
his body the church, is satisfied with favour, and
full of the blessings of the Lord. Both the west,
and the south are his for a possession ; yea, his do-
minion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river
unto the ends of earth, men shall be blessed in
him, and all nations shall call him blessed." (Ps.
lxxii. throughout.) See Hind.
NAPHTUHIM. The son of Mizriam. (Gen. x. 13.)
His name means openings.
NARCISSUS. In the Greek, the word means sur-
prise. He is spoken of Rom. xvi. 11.
NATHAN. There were many of this name in the
Bible. The first we meet with is the faithful
prophet in the days of David, 2 Sam. xii.
The name signifies who gives. (See also 2 Sam.
xii. 14.) Another Nathan is recorded, 2 Sam.
xxiii. 36 ; another, 1 Kings, iv. 5 ; another, Ezra
viii. 16.
NATHANIEL. Compounded of Nathan, gift—
and El, God,. W e have many of this name, Num .i, 8.
GOO N A
1 Chron. ii. 14 ; xv.24; xxiv. 6. 2 Chron. xvh. 7 ;
xxxv. 9. Ezra x. 22. And the eminent Nathaniel,
so highly spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ, John
i.47. See Bartholomew.
NATHAN-MELECH. An officer in the court of
Manasseh, king of Judah, 2 Kings xxiii. 11.
His name is compounded of Nathan, gift — and
Melech, king.
NAVEL. In the margin of the Bible, Ezek. xxxviii.
12. "The midst of the land " is more strikingly
marked by this term, Navel, to intimate the centre
or middle of the earth ; for as the navel of the human
body is the centre of the body, so the holy land
of Palestine is the Mediterranean of the world.
There is something very particular in this, and
worth regarding. Christ comes upon earth for the
redemption of his people. — But where shall he
make his appearance ? Surely as near the centre
as possible. It is so then, Jesus shall appear, to
fulfil all righteousness, in that part which is the
solid globe of the earth, that here to this centre all
the ends of the earth may have their vievvs direct-
ed. Hence the Psalmist speaking of it, saith, "for
God is my king of old, working salvation in the
midst of the earth." (Ps. lxxiv. 12.) And hence
the Lord Jesus is represented by the Holy Ghost
as calling from his throne, in the centre of it, to
his redeemed, saying, " Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and
there is none else." (Isa. xlv. 22.) And hence, at
the last day, the redeemed " in their return to Zion
with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads, are
represented as coming from the east, and from
the west, and from the north, and from the south,
to sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke
xiii. 29.)
Now it is blessed to observe what the Holy Ghcst
N A
CO I
hath said in his records of truth concerning those
things4"His foundation (saith the Lord, by the Psalm-
ist) is in the holy mountain." (Ps. lxxxvii. 1.) Christ
himself indeed is the foundation Jehovah laid in
Zion. (Isa. xxviii. 16.) But here the Holy Ghost
is speaking of the church of Christ founded in
himself ; and this foundation of the Lord Jesus is
in this holy mountain, the navel, or centre of
the earth. Here the Lord Christ founded it ; here
the Lord of his temple came suddenly to it, Mai.
iii. 1. — here Jesus, as had been prophesied of
him, filled it by his presence with glory, and
thereby made " the glory of the latter temple great-
er than the glory of the former." And here it was
the Lord gave peace. (See Hag. ii. 7. 9.)
And is there not yet an higher view of the sub-
ject, considered as to the glorious persons who
are the united source and cause of our salvation ?
If salvation is wrought out for the church in the
middle of the earth, is not the Son of God, by
whom it was wrought, the middle person of the
Godhead ? And not only so, the middle person of
the Holy Three in One who bear record in heaven,
but the middle person, the Mediator, between God
and man, as the man Christ Jesus? (1 John v. 7.
1 Tim. ii. 5.) And can the imagination conceive any
thing more blessed and suited for the glory and
happiness of the church, than that he who is the
centre in all these views, should be the centre
towards whom all things should move, and in
whom all should centre ? And hence we read,
that when John saw heaven open, he saw Christ
as a lamb in the midst of the throne. (Rev. vii.
17.) Nay, we are told by the Holy Ghost, through
the ministry of his servant Paul, (Eph. i. 10.) that
the great purpose of redemption is, "that in the
dispensation of the fulness of time, he might
C02
N A
gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even
in him." So that not only shall all the redeemed
of the Lord ultimately centre in him, but the
enemies of the Lord shall be given up into his
almighty hands, and here, as to one centre, shall
they all meet for destruction ; all evil things, sin,
Satan, death, and hell to be put under his feet,
when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come " to root
out of his kingdom all things that offend." So
that as in him and from him, and by him, all the
blessings of grace now flow, as from a centre, to
his redeemed upon earth, and all glory to his re-
deemed now and for ever in heaven ; so all the ene-
mies of God and his Christ will meet their final
overthrow and everlasting destruction from him
that is in the midst of the throne, when the Lord of
hosts shall " reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
and before his ancients gloriously." (Isa. xxiv. 23.)
NAZARENE. As this name was given to our Lord
Jesus Christ, and we are told by the evangelist,
that his residence in Nazareth was on this account,
that he might be so called, it will certainly merit par-
ticular attention.
The word Nazarene or Nazarite, (for it is one
and the same) is derived from Nezar, and means
separated ; so that a Nazarite is one separated
and given up to God from the womb. The Jews,
out of contempt to the person of Christ, called him
the Nazarite or Nazarene ; and certainly they
meant no other by it but, as we mean, an inhabitant
of a place, when we say, one of Plymouth, or the
like. And as Nazareth itself was but a small city
of Zebulun, they had yet greater contempt for
Christ's person, for springing, as they supposed,
from thence. "Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth ?" (John i. 46.) But we shall find
N A
603
that this title, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was all
along- designed of God, as of the highest import,
and among the strongest testimonies to this peculi-
arity of character, as the one,, yea, the only one
great Nazarite of God.
As the proper apprehension of this point is, in
my view, of infinite value in the faith of a believer,
I beg the reader's indulgence to state the whole sub-
ject very particularly.
And first, then, I request to remark on the ex-
pression of the evangelist Matthew, (chap. ii. 23.)
" And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets — he should be called a Nazarene."
The question is, what prophets are there who
so spake concerning Christ ? To which I answer,
all the writers of the Old Testament are generally
called prophets, because many of their sayings are
really and truly prophesies. Thus Jacob when
dying called his sons and said, u Gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you that which shall be-
fal you in the last days." (Gen. xlix. 1.) Emi-
nently Jacob was a prophet in what he here pre-
dicted of his sons, and the glorious events he then
delivered, since fulfilled, proves it. And the apostle
Peter denominates the whole of the Old Testa-
ment K a word of prophecy for speaking of it
he saith, u we have a more sure word of prophecy,
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. (2 Pet. i.
19.) So that not only the immediate writings of the
prophets whose titles are expressly so spoken of
as prophetical, but the scope of the whole body of
Scripture, and especially such as are looking into
gospel times, and speaking of events then to be ac-
complished, may be truly and justly called prophe-
cies, and the writers of them prophets.
The next enquiry is, which of the sacred writers
cm
N A
is it that thus predicted Christ should be called a
Nazarene ? To which I answer, in type and figure ;
Jacob and Moses both represented this great truth
in their dying testimonies concerning Joseph, the
typical Nazarite of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob's
prophecy concerning Joseph in this particular runs
thus : (Gen. xlix. 26.) " The blessings of thy father
have prevailed above the blessings of my progeni-
tors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills :
they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the
crown of the head of him that was separate from
his brethren." In the original the word separate
is Nezer, that is, a Nazarite among his brethren.
And this is the same word, used in Gen. xlix. 26.
as is used, Judges xiii. 5. for Nazarite. Strong
testimonies these to the point in question. Moses,
in like manner, makes use of the same allusion,
when delivering his dying prediction concerning
Joseph as typical of Christ. For the good will
of him, (said he) my dweller in the bush, (referring
to his first views of God incarnate, Exod. iii. 2.
compared with Acts vii. 30.) u Let the blessing
come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top
of the head of him that was separate from his bre-
thren." In the original the very same word for
separate is used as Gen. xlix. 26. — so that Moses
as well as Jacob, declared by the type Joseph, that
the great Antitype should be the Nazarite or sepa-
rate from among his brethren.
The third step to which I beg the reader to fol-
low me, in this most interesting subject concerning
our glorious Nazarite, and justly called so, is in
the writings of the evangelist St. Luke ; where I
hope we shall discover, under the teaching of God
the Holy Ghost, that Jesus, though born at Bethle-
hem to fulfil another prophecy, was literally and
truly conceived at Nazareth, and as such became a
real Nazarene.
N A
605
Thus the Holy Ghost, by the evangelist, states
the circumstances of the conception of Christ, (Luke
i. 2G, &c.) " And in the sixth month, the angel Ga-
briel was sent from God, unto a city of Galilee
named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man,
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her, and said, Hail ! thou that are
highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art
thou among women. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God;
and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus."
From hence we date the conception. The miraculous
power of the Holy Ghost is no sooner announced,
and Mary's consent obtained, than the im-
pregnation takes place ; so that " that Holy thing,"
or the man of the unction, as Christ is declared by
the angel to be, is immediately conceived, and the
Nazarite from the womb is formed in the city of
Nazareth, as the prophet had foretold. (See Isa.
vii. 14.) This, in my view of the subject, is most
blessed indeed !
Under a fourth particular, the reader will find
this great event most strikingly shadowed out in the
instance of Samson, the type of Christ, and especi-
ally in this feature of character as a Nazarite. Here
indeed we find many wonderful things to shew the
correspondence between the type and th e antitype
The birth of Samson was announced precisely in
the same manner, by the ministry of an angel. The
wife of Manoah, Samson's mother, was barren at the
time, as if to shew that the birth of this child, though
not miraculous, yet was extraordinary. The message
the angel brought to Manoah's wife, and to the Vir-
gin Mary, were (as far as the similarity of circum-
stances would admit) so much alike, that one might
606
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be Jed to conclude that the messenger was the
same, and the one ministered but to the other.
And lastly, and above all, as the angel concerning
Samson declared, that he should be a Nazarite to
God from the womb, and should begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, so eminent-
ly did the angel announce to the Virgin Mary con-
cerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that he should be
that Holy Thing, and be called the Son of the High-
est, and should deliver " his people from their sins."
(Compare Judges xiii. 2 — 7. with Luke i. 26, &c.
and Matt. i. 20, 21.) I do not think it neces-
sary to insert in this place, at large, the law con-
cerning Nazarites to God. The reader will find it,
Num. vi. 2 — 5. But from the particular pre-
cepts concerning it, and the case of Samson, seen
with an eye to Christ, a as the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth," I hum-
bly conceive that the point is thus strikingly il-
lustrated.
I have only one thing more to add, in order to
shew that this our glorious Nazarite was the one,
and the only one, to whom all that went before
were mere types and shadows, and only minis-
tered in this character to him ; and also that the
law concerning Nazarites had an eye wholly to him,
and in him alone was completed. I say I have only
to add, in confirmation of it, that when we find so
many different characters all directly overruled to
call Jesus by this name, and thus decidedly stamp-
ing his character as the Nazarite of God, however
many of them meant not so, neither did they intend
it, nothing surely can more plainly prove that the
whole must have originated in the divine mind, and
that Jehovah adopted all these methods to shew
that Christ, and Christ only, is the One Holy and
glorious Nazarite to God.
607
The first we meet with in the gospel who called
our Lord Jesus of Nazareth,, or the Nazarite, was
Satan, when he said, u Let us alone ; what have we
to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? Art
thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who thou
art, the Holy One of God." (Mark i. 21.) Next
we find the apostles giving in their testimony to
the same blessed truth, John i. 45. " We have
found him (saith Philip) of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph." When the band of men
and officers from the chief priests came to
apprehend Christ in the garden, they enquired after
the Lord under the same name, Jesus of Nazareth,
(John xviii. 5.) The servant maid in the hall of
Pilate spoke of our Lord by the same name ; for
charging Peter as an accomplice, she said, "And
this fellow also was with .) esus of Galilee." (Matt.
xxvi.71.) And yet more, the Roman governor, as if
constrained by an overruling power, in giving a
testimony to Christ the very reverse of the igno-
miny he meant to put upon him, both subscribed
to his regal authority, at the same time he pro-
claimed him the Nazarite to God ; and wrote a
superscription in three different languages, and
put it on the cross, " Jesus of Nazareth, the Ring
of the Jews." (John xix. 19.) Still farther, the
angels which attended the Lord's sepulchre, when
he arose from the dead, announced to the pious
women the resurrection of Christ by the same
name, "Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was
crucified ; he is risen, he is not here ; behold the
place where the Lord lay." (Mark xvi. 6.) In
like manner, the apostles, after our Lord's ascen-
sion to glory, continually dwelt upon this name.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, said Peter, in his ser-
mon on the day of Pentecost, a man approved
608 N A
of God among you ; as if to insist upon this
glorious feature of the man, the Nazarite. (Acts ii<
22.) So again, when he healed the cripple at the
gate of the temple, the blessed words he used were,
" In the name of Jesus of Nazareth." (Acts iii. 6.)
So again Acts iv. 10. And lastly, to mention no
more, the Lord Jesus himself, when calling to Paul
from heaven, called himself by this name, "I am
Jesus of Nazareth," or, as it might be rendered, I
am Jesus the Nazarite, not a Nazarite, but the
Nazarite, the very identical, yea, the only one.
(Acts xxii. 8.)
From the whole then, I hope the reader will
think with me, that God the Holy Ghost had all
along a design, from the first dawn of revelation,
with an eye to the 'Lord Jesus in this most import-
ant character ; and to this end and purpose di-
rected his servants' minds, Jacob and Moses, to
point to this great Nazarite, by type and figure,
in the separation of Joseph from his brethren.
And I trust that the reader will also see with me
from the Lord's own teaching, that the law of the
Nazarites, (Num. vi.) and especially the striking
typical representation in the case of Samson, had
no other meaning but to set forth the feature of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not enough, in my view, to allow these
things to be typical of Christ, if at the same time we
allow them to have any secondary and subordinate
reference to themselves. They only spake of Jesus;
they only ministered to him. Any sanctity or sup-
posed sanctity in themselves, or any Nazarites
under the law, is foreign to the very spirit of the
Gospel of Christ. The word of God not only in-
sists upon it, that there is salvation in no other
but Jesus, but it includes all other under sin.
* The imagination, yea, every imagination of the
N A
COO
thoughts of man's heart is only evil, and that con-
tinually," (Gen. vi. 5.) consequently there could be
no real Nazarite to God but this one. Every thing
that we read of concerning- holy vows and dedi-
cations, as far as they were true, were all typical
of Christ. And by this exclusive personal right
in our Jesus to this Nazarite of God, we plainly
discover this sweet feature of character in our
Lord, which endears him to his people, and shews'
the solemn dedication of himself for them to God.
Hail, thou precious blessed Lord Jesus Christ of
Nazareth ! Blessings for ever be on the head of
him that was separated from his brethren ! Verily,
" thy father's children shall bow down before thee :"
here, and to all eternity, thou shait be called the
Nazarite of God !
NAZARENES. Some of the early Christians, in
contempt, were branded with this name ; hence
Paul is called a ringleader of the sect, every where
spoken against. (Acts xxviii. 22.)
NAZARITES— Or Nazarim, from Nezer or Nazar,
separated. All were called by this name who
voluntarily made themselves Nazarites, by their
dedicating themselves to God. We have the law
at large concerning Nazarites, (Num. vi.) to which
I refer. I only beg to observe concerning Naza-
rites, that it is evident the design and good pleasure
of God the Holy Ghost, in disposing the minds
of his people to the vow of the Nazarite, and
forming laws so particular as this chapter contains,
had all along an eye to Christ, the one great and
only true Nazarite. As if the Holy Ghost in this
order would keep up in Israel the constant thought of
this sauctification and separation towards God,
until " he came who for their sakes sanctified him-
self," is made of God to them sanctification and re-
demption. (Johnxvii. 19. and 1 Cor. i. 30.)
vol. vi. 2 R
610
We find in the most degenerate state of the
church, there were still persons of this order.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of them in his Book
of Lamentations in a very affecting manner: "Her
Nazarites (saith he) were purer than snow, they
were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in
body than rubies, their polishing- was of sapphire,
their visage is blacker than a coal, they are not
not known in the streets." (Lam. iv. 7, 8.) So the
prophet Amos : " I raised up of your sons for pro-
phets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it
not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the
Lord. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink;
and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy
not." (Amos ii. 11, 12.) Nothing can be more
plain than that this order was altogether typical,
when we consider the wretched condition of
Israel in both those periods when Jeremiah and
Amos exercised their ministry. The whole of both
those men's preaching is reproof; and therefore, if
at such a time the order of the Nazarites was preserv-
ed, and as the Lord himself saith, it was of his raising
up, surely it proves to a demonstration, that God
the Holy Ghost intended from it, like all the sacri-
fices under the law, to be continued only until he
came in whom all types, shadows, sacrifices, and
ordinances centered, and in whom all had their
completion, and were done away.
NEAH. A city of Zebulun. (Josh. xix. 13.) The
word Neah or Noch, means a city.
NEAPOLIS. We read of this place, Actsxvi. 11.
perhaps so called from being then newly formed,
meaning a new city.
NEARIAH. One of the sons of Shechaneah,
(1 Chron. iii. 22.) From Naarah, youth or child.
NEBAJOTH. Ishmael's eldest son. (Gen. xxv. 13.)
The name signifies fruits, if from Nubai, fruits.
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NEBALLAT. A city of Benjamin. (Neh, xi. 34.)
NEBAT. The father of Jeroboam, (1 Kings xi.26.)
from Nubai, that beholds.
NEBO. We meet with this name for three different
places. There was a city of the Reubenites called
Nebo, (Num. xxxii. 38.) — and according- to Jere-
miah, in his days the Moabites had it in possession.
(Jer. xlviii.) There was also a city of Judah of
this name in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Ezra
ii. 29. Neh. vii. 33.) And the famous mountain
on which Moses died was called Nebo. (Deut.
xxxiv. 1.5.) One of the idols of Babylon bore
the name of Nebo. (Isa. xlvi. 1.) The root of
the name seems to be much the same as that
of Nebat.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR. King- of Babylon. We
have much said in Scripture concerning this mo-
narch, in the book of Daniel. His name is formed
from several words not of Hebrew, but of the
Chaldean. The idol name of Nebo forms a part
in it, for the Babylonians were much disposed
to this. Various have been the opinions of men
concerning the wonderful change wrought upon
Nebuchadnezzar, as related Dan. iv. 28. 33 ; but, after
all that hath been said on this subject, the matter
stands just where the Scriptures have left it. And
those who do not desire to be wise above what is
written, will do well to accept of this and all the
other parts of sacred Scripture in the Lord's own
way, referring all into his sovereign decree, K who
worketh all things according to the purpose of
his own will. My counsel (saith he) shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. (Isa. xlvi. 10.) Let
the reader read the close of the forty-fourth chapter
of Isaiah, and form his conclusions accordingly.
NEBUSHASBAN. One of those princes who was
sent from Babylon at the taking of Jerusalem.
2 R 2
N E
(Jer. xxxix. 13.) A compound word, principally
having- a regard to the idol of Babylon, Nebo.
NEBUZARADAN. Captain of the guard of Nebu-
chadnezzar's army. (See Jer. xxxix. and xl.)
NECHO. We read of Pharaoh Necho, king of
Egypt, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. Probably the name of
Necho was added to that of Pharaoh on account of
some lameness, as Necho means lame.
NECROMANCER. We meet with this name but
once in Scripture, (Deut. xviii. 11.) but that once
is enough to shew, that from the earliest days there
have been characters of such awfulness. The word
is derived from Nekros, Greek,and signifies one who
pretends to discourse with the dead. By the law, all
that exercised this art were condemned to punish-
ment ; yea, the Lord said, " I will even set my face
against that soul, and will cut him off from among
his people." (Lev. xx. 6.) The woman at Endor prac-
tised this art, and made Saul in his horrors of mind,
a dupe to her delusion. (1 Sam. xxviii. 5, &c.) The
prophet Isaiah hath described the character of such,
Isa. xxix. 4. Is il not astonishing that in the days
of the gospel any should be found daring enough
to exercise such an art, and still more that any
should be found so foolish as to give credit to such
persons?
NEDABIAH. Son of Jaconiah. (1 Chron. iii. 18.)
This man's name is compounded of Nadab, gift —
aud Jah, Lord.
NEGINOTH. A title to many of the Psalms. See
Musician.
NEHELAMITE. Perhaps a Nehelamite was a na-
tive or inhabitant of Nahallal, which is spoken of
Josh, xix. 15. Nehalmi, signifies dreamer; so
that it is probable that Shemaiah, the Nehelamite,
spoken of by Jeremiah, might mean the dreamer.
(Jer. xxix. 24.)
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613
NEHEMIAH. The Tirshatha or Governor under
the Persian king ; a well known faithful character
in the church after the return of the people from
Babylon. (See the Book of Neherniah.) His name if
derived from Nacham, signifies the comfort of the
Lord. Nacham, or Nehem, and Jah.
NEHILOTH. See Musician.
NEHUSTAN. The name which Hezekiah gave to
the brazen serpent which Moses had lifted up in
the wilderness. (See 2 Kings xviii. 4.) It should
seem very plain, from what is said in this Scrip-
ture, that what Moses in his days had lifted up
at the command of God, and for the most blessed
purposes, the Israelites in after-ages had perverted
into an idol. We find, by what is said of Heze-
kiah's destroying it, that the Israelites had preserved
it, and brought it with them into Canaan. But what
a sad delusion must they have fallen into in setting it
up for an object of worship, and burning incense to it !
(See Num. xxi. 6. compared with John iii. 14.) The
name Nehushtan is from Nachash, serpent ; so that
by Hezekiah calling it not Nachash, but Nehushtan,
he meant to shew by the alteration his contempt of
it as an idol. It is a sort of play upon the word,
somewhat like that we meet with Isa. lxi. 3. where
the prophet, speaking of the exchange to be made
of beauty for ashes, useth two words in sound much
alike, but very different in their meaning — Pheer,
beauty, for Epher, ashes. In our English language
we have numberless instances of the kind.
NEIL. A city of Ashur. (Josh, xix.27.) From Nuah,
shaking — and El, God.
NEKEB. A city of Naphtali. (Josh. xix. 33.) Nekeb,
that bores, or makes a penetration.
NEMUEL. There are two of this name in Scripture,
one the son of Eliab, (Num. xxvi. 9.) and another
the son of Simeon, (Num. xx. 12.) It is compounded
614 N E
of Nun, sleep — and El, God — the sleep which God
gives. (Ps. cxxvii. 2.)
NEPHEG. One of David's sons. (2 Sam. v. 15.)
The name means weak or faint, from Phug.
NEPHTOAH. We read of the water of Nephtoah,
which went towards mount Ephron, Josh. xv. 9.
Perhaps the name means opening-, if from Pathac.
NER. Father to Abner, captain of the host to Saul.
(1 Sam. xiv. 5.) His name is light or lamp.
NEREUS. A friend of Paul's, (Rom. xvi. 15.) de-
rived from Ner.
NERGAL. An idol of the men of Cuth, (2 Kings
xvii. 30.) compounded of Ner and Gal, light dis-
covered.
NERGAL SHAREZER. Captain of Nebuchad-
nezzar's army. (Jer. xxxix. 3.) A compound name,
Ner, light — Shar, prince — Abzar, treasure.
NERIAH or NERI. We meet with two of this
name. The father of Baruch, Jer. xxxii. 12. and
the son of Melchi, Luke iii. 27. Light of the Lord,
or the Lord is my light.
NETHANIAH. The father of Jshmael. (2 Kings
xxv. 23.) And there is a Levite of this name,
1 Chron. xxv. 2. Nathan, gift — and Jah, Lord.
NETHINIMS. We read of the Nethinims in the
first book of the Chronicles, ix. 2. and in Ezra ii.
43. 58, &c. and Nehemiah iii. 26, &c. but no where
else in Scripture. Perhaps the name is derived
from Nathan, gift ; and it is probable, that as we
are told, (Ezra viii. 20.) David had appointed them
for service to the Levites, who were of the lower
order of those who ministered in the temple. But
we know nothing more concerning them. Many
will be found at the last day, it is to be hoped,
among those who, when upon earth, were but "as
hewers of wood, and drawers of water, to the sanc-
tuary," whom Jesus will own for his Nethinims,
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615
the gift of the Father to the Son, who lived and
died unnoticed, and, for the most part, unknown to
men, like some sweet fragrant flower of the moun-
tain, but in everlasting- remembrance in the sight of
God.
NETOPHAH. We read Ezra ii. 22. of this place ;
and some have thought that it was a city between
Benjamin and the pleasant village of Anathoth,
where Jeremiah dwelt. (Jer. i. 1.) The name is de-
rived from Nataph, gum or spice ; probably so
called from the precious gums produced there.
NEW MOON. The Hebrews were very earnest in
observing the first day of the new moon, not in any
idolatrous manner it is to be hoped, but probably
more for the calculation of time. We read much
of their feasts and friendly meetings with each
other. Moses appointed a burnt offering at the
opening of each month. (Num. xxviii. 11.) But this
was accompanied with no precept for any particu-
lar day, neither any service with it ; and the new
moon festival, it should seem to have been rather
in the view of a pious sanctification of families,
when meeting together as Job did, (Job i. 5.) than
any immediate religious service towards the Lord.
Hence we read of David being expected at the
king's table on the first day of the new moon, and
being particularly missed because it was that day.
(See 1 Sam. xx. 5, 6. 24. 27.) So we find the hus-
band of the Shunamite making particular observa-
tions upon his wife's wishing to go to the prophet,
when it was neither sabbath nor new moon. (See
2 Kings iv. 23.) We read also of the new moon
festivals in other parts of Scripture. (See 1 Chron.
xxiii.31. 2 Chron. viii. 13. Isa. i. 13, 14. Ezek.
xlv. 17.) I believe even in very late times, and
perhaps with some even now, the Jews are attached
to friendly visits with each other, more particu-
larly in the new moon.
610
N £
NEW WINE. See Bottle— Wine.
NEZIAH. We read of the children of this man,
Ezra ii. 54. His name is a compound of Ne and
Jah, from Netzac, victorious.
NEZIB. A city or village spoken of Josh, xv, 43.
Strength, from Netzib.
NIBHAZ. The idol which the Avites made. (See
2Kingsxvii. 31.) If from Nub, to be fruitful, it
means one that makes fruitful.
NIBSHAN. A city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 62.) If from
Shanah, it means to change.
NICANOR. One of the seven first deacons in the
church of Christ after the descent of the Holy Ghost.
(Acts vi. 5.) The name is taken from the Greek,
and means to conquer.
N1CODEMUS. A well known name in the gospel,
compounded, it should seem, of Nake, innocent —
and Dam, blood. We have abundant reason to
bless the Holy Ghost, in causing to be recorded
that memorable conversation, as well as the cha-
racter of Nicodemus manifested in it, that took
place between the Lord Jesus and Nicodemus, as
given at large John iii. How blessed the light there-
by thrown upon that most important doctrine of re-
generation, and which Jesus declares to be indis-
pensably necessary for an entrance into the kingdom
of God. And it is blessed to trace the effects of
this glorious work of God the Holy Ghost upon the
heart of Nicodemus himself. When he first came
to Christ it was by night. Some impressions, no
doubt, of the Spirit had been wrought upon his
mind, or he would not have sought after Jesus ; but
his views were so dark and indistinct, that when
Jesus opened to him the doctrine of regeneration,
he thought it an impossible thing. The next ac-
count we have of him is John vii. 50. where he
ventures in open day-light to stand up for Christ
617
before the whole council, and got himself no small
contempt upon the occasion. By the time the Lord
Jesus had finished his redemption-work on the cross,
we tind Nicodemus so advanced in the divine life
and his love to Christ, that, in company with Jo.
seph of Arimathea, he went boldly unto Pilate and
begged the body of Jesus. (See Luke xxiii. 51,
52. with John xix. 38, 39.) It is very blessed thus to
trace the progress of grace, and to prove the truth
of that sweet Scripture, "the path of the just is as
the shining light, that shineth more and more unto
a perfect day." (Rev. iv. 18.)
NICOLAS. One of the seven deacons. (Acts vi. 5.)
Some have supposed that he was the head and
leader of the sect called the Nicolaitaines ; but
there are no authorities in Scripture for this. Our
Lord saith, (Rev. ii. 6.) that he hated the deeds of
the Nicolaitaines, but he doth not say that Nicolas
th e deacon was the founder of that sect.
NICOPOLIS. Fiom hence Paul wrote to Titus.
(See Tit. iii. 12.) It was a province in Macedo-
nia.
NIGER. We have the name of this man Acts xiii. 1.
He is there called a prophet, but we have no
account of his ministry, or any of his writings.
NIGHT. 1 only pause at this word just to remark,
that the Hebrews reckoned their hours different
from modern custom. They always began at six in
the evening to count their hours ; so that what we call
three in the afternoon was to them the ninth hour
of the day. And so by a parity of calculation, of
all the rest. Hence when Peter and John, as we
read Acts iii. L went up to the temple at the
hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, this would
have been with us three in the afternoon.
I need not stay to remark, for I presume the
sense of the expression is generally understood,
618
that night in Scripture language is sometimes figu-
ratively used for darkness in divine things. Thus
God's people are called children of the day, and
not of the night; meaning their conduct is accord-
ding to light, and not darkness. (1 Thes. v. 5.)
NIMRAH. A city of Gad and Reuben. (Num.
xxxii. 3.) If derived fromNamer, it signifies leopard ;
if from Marah, as some have supposed, bitterness.
NIMROD. The son of Cush. (Gen. x. 8, 9.) The
character given of this man is that of a mighty
hunter before the Lord.
NIMSHI. The father of Jehu, (1 Kings xvi.) If de-
rived from Mashah, it signifies saved from danger.
NINEVEH. A city, and the capital of Assyria-
Derived from Naah, handsome. We have a very
interesting account in the book of Jonah concern-
ing the Ninevites, and the number of souls it then
contained, when the prophet was sent to exercise
his ministry there : to which I therefore refer. His-
torians give wonderful accounts of Nineveh. They
make it the most ancient as well as the most popu-
lous and powerful city of the world. The founder
of it certainly was Nimrod. (See Gen. x. 10 — 12.)
It stood on the banks of the Tigris, supposed to be
seven leagues long ; for Jonah relates that it was
three days' journey to go through it. And where is
it now ? Where is Nineveh and Babylon, and the
seven churches of proconsular Asia ? Alas ! not a
vestige of either remains. Let the reader turn to
the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah's prophecj, and
read from the nineteenth verse to the end, to see a
picture of God's desolation upon sinful nations and
kingdoms. Thus do all monarchies fade and die
away, while the kingdom of God and his Christ
shall endure for ever. How sweetly Paul speaks on
the subject. (Heb. xii. 28.)
NISAN. One of the months of the Hebrews, answer-
N O 619
ing to our March. Perhaps derived from Nus,
meaning flight.
NISROCH. An idol of the Assyrians — derived
from the same root as Nisan, but not an Hebrew
derivation. (2 Kings xix. 37.)
NO. We read in the prophet Nahum of populous No.
(Nahum hi. 8.) And Jeremiah and Ezekiel both speak
of this city. (Jer. xlvi. 25. Ezek. xxx. 14, &c.) But
we know very little about it.
NOAUIAH. A false prophetess. (See Neh. vi. 14.)
The name is a compound of Nuach, rest — and Jalu
the Lord.
NOAH. His name signifies rest or repose, from Nu-
ach. Some derive it from Nacham, consolation.
The Holy Ghost hath given the character of this
patriarch when calling him a preacher of righte-
ousness. (2 Pet. ii. 5.) We have his history, Gen.
v. 28. to the end ; vi. 8. to the end ; and vii. viii.
and ix. throughout. We have the Holy Ghost's
own comments upon Noah's history and character.
(Heb. xi. 7.) To those Scriptures I refer.
NOB. A city of priests, so called, 1 Sam. xxi. 1.
uomNabach, talk.
NOBAlH. This man gave name to the city Nobah.
(Num. xxxii. 42.)
NOU. The land of Nod, the country where Cain with-
drew after slaying Abel. (Gen. iv. 16.) It should
seem that this wretch going thither gave this name
to the place, for it means vagabond or wanderer.
See Vagabond.
NODAB. We read of this place 1 Chron. v. 19.
Probably the name is derived from Nadab, prince or
chief.
NOGAH. One of the sons of David. (1 Chron. iii. 7.)
The name is brightness.
NOHAH. A son of Benjamin. (1 Chron. viii. 2.) From
Nuah, rest.
620
N U
NOPHAH. A city of Israel, originally belonging- to
the Moabites. (Num. xxi. 30.) From Naphak, that
breathes.
NOPHET. A province in Zebulun and Manasseh-
From Naph, that drops.
NOSE. The church is compared by our Lord to va-
rious things in nature beautiful and lovely, and her
several features Jesus draws a resemblance between
them and the most engaging objects around-
Among the rest he saith, u her nose is as the tower
of Lebanon, which looketh towards Damascus."
(Song vii. 4.) It is a beautiful metaphor, intimating
the quickness of discernment by smell of all that is
fragrant in Jesus, and his redemption in mount
Lebanon, his gospel church. And not only the
discoveries, by the smell of his garments, of righte-
ousness, like the myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, but
the looking towards Damascus, implying the extent
of that longing for Christ which, like the tower, or
an high mountain, may be seen from afar off ; so
the church is always on the look-out for Jesus, when
coming over the mountains of spices and hills of
frankincense.
NUMBERS. The third Book of Moses, so called
from containing the numbers of the Israelites after
coming out of Egypt.
NUN. Son of Elishama, and father of Joshua. (Josh,
i. 1.)
NUTS. Christ is represented as going down into
the garden of nuts. (Song vi. 11.) The word ren-
dered nuts in this passage, is never used elsewhere
in the Bible. Some suppose it means pruned gar-
dens, from the word pruning. But the great point
intended from it is, to denote the grace and conde-
scension in Christ, to visit his churches, and to take
notice of the graces he himself hath planted in
them.
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621
NYMPH AS. The person whom Paul salutes in his
Epistle to the Colossians, chap. iv. 15. The name
is supposed to have been a woman's name, being
feminine, and in the original Greek signifying
spouse ; but the church is said to be in his house,
and therefore Nymphas is of the brethren.
O.
OBADIAH. We meet with many of this name in
Scripture. The name is evidently derived from
Habad, a slave, or labourer; and the Jah being
connected with it, renders the name Obad-jah,
the Lord's servant, or slave or labourer. In a gos-
pel-sense this is very blessed ; for as slaves were
purchased, so believers are said " to be bought with
a price," and therefore, above all men, are called
upon to " glorify God in their body and in their
spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi.20.) ButPeter^
the apostle, makes a beautiful contrast between the
purchase of the slaves of men, and the purchased
of the Lord. u Forasmuch (saith he) as ye know
that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot." (1 Pet. i. 18, 19.)
We have no less than five men of the name of
Obadiah in the first book of Chronicles, chap, iii,
21 ; vii. 3 ; viii. 38; ix. 16; and xii. 9; — and one in the
second book of the Chronicles, chap. xvii. 7. There
is another of this name, Neh.x. 5; and a principal man
he was in signing the covenant. And we must not for-
get in this enumeration, the faithful Obadiah in the
days of Elijah. (See IKingsxviii.) But the most import-
ant to us among the Obadiahs of the Scripture, is the
one whom God the Holy Ghost raised up for a prophet
622
and hath given to the church, even to this hour,
this man's labours. See the prophecy of Obadiah.
I do not presume to say as much, but I humbly
would ask, whether the close of his man's vision
hath not respect to the latter day glory, in a bles-
sed event yet to be fulfilled. (See seventeenth verse
to the end.)
OBAL. SonofJoktan. (Gen. x. 20.) Derived from
Balah, old age.
OBED. We meet with two of this name in Scrip-
ture, Obed the father of Jesse, Ruth iv. 17. — and
Obed the father of Jehu, 1 Chron. ii. 37. The
name is Hebrew, and means servant.
OBED-EDOM. We have the honourable testimony
which God the Holy Ghost gave of this man, 2 Sam.
vi. 9 — 12 ; and again recorded, 1 Chron. xiii. 13,
14. And Lis numerous family, 1 Chron. xxvi. 4, 5.
His name is compounded of Obed, slave — and
Edom, or the Idumean. But as Obed-jah, the pro-
phet, was called the slave or labourer of the Lord,
so Obed-edom, the slave of the Adam or Edom, the
earth or earthy, was eminently the Lord's chosen
for that peculiar service of receiving the ark, when
David himself trembled on the occasion.
But I hope the reader, in beholding the blessing
of the Lord upon Obed-edom and his house, for the
ark of God's sake, will not overlook the cause.
That ark was a type of the ever-blessed Jesus. In
receiving the ark into his house, into his family,
and among his people, he did, to all intents and pur-
poses, receive Christ into his heart, and like the
faithful descendant of the faithful Abraham, " saw
the day of Christ afar off, rejoiced, and was glad."
Obed-edom was no stranger to the dreadful conse-
quences which had fallen on the Philistines for their
daring impiety, in taking the ark of God, and de-
taining it. He could be no stranger to the awful
O B fi23
death of Uzzah, for touching it presumptuously ;
for, no doubt, it was in every one's mouth. Nay,
he could not but know that the reason wherefore
David wished Obed-edom to take the ark into his
house was, because he was afraid to take it into his
own. What was it then, that prompted the mind
of this pious faithful Gittite to receive the ark of
God under such alarming- circumstances ? What
was it, but thy grace, almighty Lord, that taught
him to rejoice in thee and thy favour, while others
were trembling under thy judgments? Oh! the
blessedness of distinguishing grace, which makes
that to thy people u a savour of life unto life,*" whilst
to others it becomes " a savour of death unto death."
Three whole months was Obed-edom favoured with
the abode of the ark. No doubt, the tokens of the
divine presence were so visibly bestowed upon this
man and his household, that the whole neighbour-
hood, yea, the whole kingdom, could not but take
notice of it ; for it is said, " that it was told king
David, saying, the Lord hath blessed the house of
Obed-edom, and all that pertained to him, because
of the ark of God," ver 12.
Hear this ye parents, masters of families, and
guardians of houses, interested in your own present
and everlasting welfare, and that of your young ones
of the rising generation. Behold the blessedness
in Obed-edom, and all that pertained to him, for
receiving the ark of God into his house. And ob-
serve the special time when this was done. It
was when others trembled, he was made bold with
an holy boldness. When none ventured to serve
the interest of God, and to receive his ark, he was
faithful.
And what is it now ? If that ark was a type of
Christ, who are they that may be said to be faithful
in the midst of the present perverse and crooked
624
O D
generation, but they who receive Christ Jesus the
Lord into their hearts, and houses, and families,
whilst others despise him ! Who are the Obed-
edoms of the present day, but such as receive
Christ Jesus the Lord, and walk in him, and live to
him, and rejoice in him, as the Lord our Righteous-
ness ! And if there ever was a day of peculiar bles-
sedness, for the manifesting this distinguishing love
to Jesus and his cause, surely the present is the
one. Oh ! for grace, therefore, that while the ark
of God, the Christ of God, is shut out of such
numberless houses in this adulterous and sinful
generation, many an Obed-edom may yet be fonnd
in our British Israel to welcome the Lord Jesus to
their hearts, and he, and he alone, be formed there
the hope of glory. Hail Obed-edom, thou faithful
servant of thy Lord ! Ever will thy memory be bless-
ed in the church ; and when the temple of God is
opened again in heaven, as it was to the beloved
apostle (Rev. xi. 19.) and the ark of the Testament
is beheld by the whole church, still will it be held
in everlasting remembrance how the Lord blessed
the house of Obed-edom upon earth, for the ark of
God's sake.
OB1L. The Ishmaelite. (1 Chron. xxvii. 30.) Aubil
the Hebrews pronounced this name, from Abal that
weeps.
OBLATION. See Sacrifice.
OBOTH. An encampment, so called, in the wilder-
ness, after leaving Panon. (Num. xxi. 10.) If from
Ob, skin, Oboth means skins, or bottles of skins.
OCRAN. The father of Pagiel. (Num. i. 13.) If
from Hucar, trouble. Ocran, it should seem, might
mean one that troubles.
ODED. The father of Azariah. (2 Chron. xv. 1.)
And there was another of this name, a prophet of
625
the Lord. (2 Chron. xxviii. 9.) The name is taken
from Hoded, to lift up.
OFFERINGS. The old church formed in the wilder-
ness abounded in offerings of various kinds, both
civil and religious. The general term for offer-
ings was Corban. (See Corban.) But the temple
service offerings were all denominated Mincha.
Those offerings of Mincha consisted of flour made
into cakes, all unleavened, probably to prefigure
Christ. (See 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.) And besides the burnt
offerings, and peace offerings, and sin offerings,
under the law, were many, and scrupulously regarded
by the Jews, being so strictly enjoined by the Lord.
How blessed is it for us to observe under every
one of them direct references to the person and
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
whereby "he hath perfected for ever them that
are sanctified !" Without him the whole was an un-
meaning service ; but considered as typical of Jesus,
how infinitely important doth that all-sufficient sa.
crificeof Christ on the cross appear, when we behold
it introduced with such vast solemnity and expense
through so many ages to the coming of Christ.
OG. King of Bashan. (Deut. iii. 11.) We have an
account of this wonderful man ; and his size must
have been enormous, if we judge of it by his bed-
stead of iron. Nine cubits long, by four wide,
makes in English measure, fifteen feet four inches
long, and six feet ten in breadth. But what is
length or strength in man, when opposed to those
who fight in the strength of the Lord ? Og proves
to be in such a case, as his name is, " a cake baked
in ashes." (See Num. xxi. 33.)
OHAD. One of the sons Simeon, (Gen. xlvi. 10.)
The name signifies praise, from Judah, to praise.
OHEL. Son of Zerubbabel. (1 Chron. iii. 20.) If
derived from Hillul, it means brightness.
vol. vi. 2 s
620 O I
OIL. It is very generally understood by oil what is
meant in the common use of it in life ; but the holy
oil for the sanctuary is of a very different nature^
and merits particular attention. When we con.
sider that the whole office of the Holy Ghost in that
feature of his sovereign character, namely, the unc-
tion of the Spirit, is described by anointing, and
this not only of the person's of the members of
Christ's mystical body, but Christ, the glorious
Head himself; when we consider Christ, really and
truly so called, and literally becoming Christ, from
this anointing of God the Holy Ghost, the subject of
the holy oil, as typical of these blessed things,
riseth in importance to our view, and demands the
closest attention of every truly awakened heart. If
the reader desires Scriptural information on this
interesting subject, he should diligently read the
Lord's directions concerning the holy oil, Exod
xxx. 22, to the end.
Concerning the office of God the Holy Ghost in
his anointing character, as set forth by the holy oil
of the temple, it would far exceed the limits of a
work of this kind to go through the whole of the
blessed Spirit's agency, in the description of
it, under the various manifestations. It will be suffi-
cient to say in general, that to this one glorious
office of the Holy Ghost all the anointings we read
of in the Old Testament, and the uses to which the
the holy oil was appropriated, evidently pointed.
It is God the Holy Ghost who is uniformly repre-
sented, in his divine influences and gifts, by the
figure and emblem of the holy oil and the oint-
ment ; for as oil hath numberless operations to soften,
to take off rust, to counteract poison, to give cheer-
fulness to the countenance, and to facilitate actions
in the limbs when benumbed and grown hard ; so
the blessed influences of the Holy Ghost, by
O L
627
his divine anointings, soften our hearts, take off
the rust of ignorance in our minds, expel the
poison of sin and corruption, and not only raiseth
up the drooping- spirits, by administering to our
hearts the oil of joy and gladness, but causeth us
" to run the way of God's commandments when the
Lord hath set our heart at liberty."
And what a blessed thought it is, that as the holy
oil was poured on the head of Aaron, the great
high priest of the Jewish dispensation, which ran
down to the skirts of his clothing, so God the Holy
Ghost anointed Jesus, our great and almighty High
Priest, to whom Aaron was but the shadow, with
"the oil of joy and gladness above and for his fel-
lows ;" yea, the Spirit was not given " by measure
unto him, for in him all fulness dwelleth." And
Christ and his church being one and the same,
he the glorious Head, and they his members,
of u his fulness do we all receive, and grace or
grace." (See Anointing. See Holy Ghost. See
these Scriptures, Ps. xlv. 7; cxxxiii; John i. 16;
iii. 34.)
OLIVE TREE. The church is compared to an olive
tree upon many occasions, (Jer. xi. 16. Ps. Hi. 8.) —
and the young converts in Zion to olive branches.
(Ps. cxxviii. 3.) And Paul in a beautiful figure, re-
presents the state of conversion from nature to grace
by the change from the olive tree which is wild, by
nature, to that of a true olive tree, which is planted
by grace. (Rom. xi. 17, to the end.)
I must not dismiss this subject, without first re-
marking the allusions made by men in general to the
olive branch, as an emblem of peace. It is more
than probable that this took its rise from the circum-
stance of Noah's dove in the ark, when from being
sent forth to discover whether the waters of the flood
had subsided at length returned with the olive-
2 s 2
026
branch in her mouth. The raven he dismissed
found means of subsistence in going to and fro,
probably from the carcases of those drowned ; but
the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot until
returning to the ar k. It is so with God's people ;
hence they are said to come as " doves to their
windows." And it is remarkable, that when the
Psalmist saith, (Ps. cxvi. 7.)" Return unto thy rest, O
my soul !" the original is, Return unto thy Noah, thy
Christ ; for he is the rest wherewith the Lord causeth
the weary to rest. The olive branch in the mouth
of the dove is a token of peace. God will no more
destroy the earth by a Hood. The ark is a type of
Jesus, through whom and in whom God is at peace,
in the blood of his cross. (See Isa. xxviii. 12. Matt,
xxviii. 29, 30.)
OLIVET. See Mount Olivet.
OLYMPAS. A believer in Christ of this name.
(Rom. xvi. 15,)
OMAR. Son of Eliphaz, (Gen. xxxvi. 11,) from
Aumai, he that speaks.
OMRI. There were several of this name in Scrip-
ture. 1 Kings xvi. 23. there was a king of this
name ; and a son of Becher, 1 Chron. vii. 8 ; and
an Omri the son of Michael, 1 Chron. xxvii. 18.
The name seems to mean, my words, or my dis-
courses.
ON. Son of Peleth, (Num. xvi. 1.) The word means
pain.
ONAN. Son of Judah. If the name be derived
from Anoh, it signifies trouble. We have this
man's short history, Gen. xxxviii. 8 — 10. and short
as it is, it is awful- From this man's sin arose the
name of Onanism to that particular offence which
he was guilty of, and for which the Lord slew him
Who shall say the numbers which since his days
have fallen into it ? And who shall calculate the
629
army which by Onanism have hastened the termi-
nation of a life of sin, and hurried themselves into
eternity ! Into how many streams of evil, diffusing
themselves into all the parts of our poor fallen nature,
hath that one deadly poison the old serpent put
into Adam manifested itself through all our passions !
Blessed Lord Jesus ! what, but for thy gracious re-
covery of our nature, could have saved the wretch-
ed race of Adam from the wrath to come.
ONESIMUS. A name well known in the New Tes-
tament, whose history is exceedingly interesting.
His name, it should seem, is derived from the Greek,
and means useful. And very useful hath the vela
tion which is given of his conversion proved to the
church in all ages ever since.
It appears from the short Epistle of Paul to Phile-
mon, (which see) that Onesimus was originally
the slave or servant to Philemon. And though it
is not expressly said in so many words that he rob-
bed his master, yet from some expressions in Paul's
letter, there seems great probability of it. Be this
however as it may, certain it is that he ran from
his master, and thereby manifested much worth-
lessness of conduct. In his wanderings he came to
Rome, when Paul was there imprisoned the first
time ; and knowing the apostle while in his master's
service, he visited the apostle in theprison. The Lord,
who by his providence brought Onesimus to Paul,
made this interview prosperous by his grace ; and
those visits ended, by the Lord's blessing, in the
conversion of this poor runaway servant. The
epistle Paul sent by him to his master Philemon re-
lates those interesting circumstances. And as we
find the Epistle to the church of the Colossians was
sent from Rome by Onesimus, there is reason to con-
clude that Philemon sent him back to Paul to minis-
ter to him in the prison.
630
The epistle of Paul to Philemon is a master-piece
for elegance and simplicity of style. Methinks it
were devoutly to be wished, that all the followers
of the Lord Jesus would form their letter-writing by
this model. How truly blessed doth the epistle
open, after subscribing himself as the prisoner of
the Lord, in praying that grace and peace to Phile-
mon might flow from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ ! And how blessedly doth the apostle
close his letter, in a similar prayer, that the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ might be with his spirit !
Amen. And as the epistle opens and closeth in so
sweet and gracious a spirit, so all the parts of it
breathe every thing that is truly lovely and becom-
ing the blessed Gospel of Christ.
But while I thus venture to recommend to myself
and to others this style of writing, I beg yet more
to remark the abundant grace of God the Holy
Ghost, in causing such a blessed fragment of bis
sacred word to have been recorded and handed
down in his church. Was it thought an object of
everlasting moment thus to preserve in the book of
God the history of a poor fugitive, and to let the
church know that, in the instance of this slave,
the Lord's grace outruns even all our undeserv-
ings ? Was it indeed meant to shew in this, as well
as in a thousand and ten thousand other instances,
that " where sin aboundeth grace doth much more
abound V
What a precious example is held forth in this
epistle to ministers of the word of God, to parents,
masters of families, and all that are interested in
the care and government of incautious youth, to
feel what Paul felt, and to take an earnest concern
in the recovery of transgression of every description
and character ! Did Paul count this runaway servant
a brother, yea, his son, and speak of him as his
O P G31
own bowels, with what affection ought the ties of
the minister and his people, the parent and his
children, the master and his servant, to be felt and
acknowledged in all the circumstances of life ! How
tenderly the same great apostle elsewhere recom-
mends those gracious principles as the common ac-
tions of the christain ! " Put on therefore (saith the
apostle) as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another,
and forgiving one another ; if any man have a
quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye." (Col. iii. 12, 13.)
It is hardly possible, while thus naming the name
of Jesus, and in this endearing character of his for-
giveness, it is hardly possible to overlook how emi-
nently the Lord himself stands forth in his high
office of Intercessor for every Onisemus of his
people, who, like this poor fugitive, have all run
away from our Lord and master, and wandered from
his service. If Paul found Onesimus, how much
more hath Jesus found us in our lost estate, " for
his mercy endureth for ever !" And if Paul's inter-
cession was so prevalent with Philemon, what
must the Lord Jesus's be with the Father !
ONESIPHORUS. This person is spoken of by the
apostle Paul with honorable testimony, 2 Tim. i. 16.
His name is a compound from the Greek, and means
to bring usefulness.
ONO. A city of Benjamin, (1 Chron. viii. 12.) If from
On, strength, there was also a man of this name,
Ezra. ii. 33.
ONYX. A precious stone : it formed a part in the
high priest's breastplate. (Exod. xxviii. 20.)
OPHEL. The name of a wall in the house of the
Lord.(2 Chron. xxvii. 3.)
OPHIR. We read much in Scripture of the gold of
632
O R
Opher, 1 Kings ix. 28. The word is perhaps de-
rived from Aupher or Epher, which means ashes ;
probably from the dust to which gold in the process
of melting is brought. But be this as it may,
certain it is that the gold of Ophir, supposed to
be the purest of all gold, is after all but ashes ;
and the very name serves to set forth its emptiness
and vanity. Was it not with this view (I do but
ask the question, and not determine it) the Holy
Ghost by the prophet said, "I will make a man
(or more properly, the man Christ Jesus) more
precious than fine gold, even a man, than the
golden wedge of Ophir?" (Isa.xiii. 12.)
OPHNI. A city of Benjamin, (Josh, xviii. 24.) per-
haps from Gophni, weary.
OPHRAH. A city of Benjamin, (Josh, xviii. 23.)
from Haphar, dust.
ORACLE. We find mention made (2 Sam. xvi. 23.)
of the oracle of God ; but we are at a loss to un-
derstand so as to speak with certainty concerning
the meaning. In the building of Solomon's temple
we are told, that there was " a part for the oracle,
even for the most holy place." (1 Kings vi. 16.) By
which it should seem, that the mercy-seat or
propitiatory, was intended by the word oracle.
And the Psalmist seems to throw a farther light
upon the term, considered in this point of view,
when he saith, (Ps. xxviii. 2.) u Hear the voice of
my supplications when 1 cry unto thee, when I
lift up my hands towards thy holy oracle." For
where should a soul lift up his hands and his heart,
but to the mercy seat, God in Christ speaking from
between the cherubim ? The word Dabir, which is
the word used for oracle, 1 Kings vi. 16, properly
signifies oracle. But the word Caphoreth (from
Capher or Copher, to expiate or pardon) is used
for the mercy seat, Exod. xxv. 18. But in either
633
sense, or in both, by oracle must imply the an-
swers of the Lord to his people. And what is said,
of the answers by Urim and Thummim, by visions
of the night, by prophecy, and the like, all is one
and the same, when the Lord makes known the
sacred purposes of his will. Hence the apostle,
speaking- of those who ministered in holy things,
enjoined this precept, "If any man speak, let him
speak as the oracles of God ;" that is, the truths of
God. (1 Pet. iv. 11. See Gen. xxvii. 5, 6. Num. xiii.
6—8.)
OREB. One of the princes of Midian. (Judges vii. 25.)
If from Harab, it means raven.
ORION. One of the rich constellations in the south.
(Job. ix. 9.)
ORPAH. Wife of Chilion, son of Elimelech. (Ruth
i.4.) If from Sarah, the name means nakedness.
OSTRICH. This very extraordinary bird is so spoken
of in the Scripture, that it would be wrong in a
work of this kind not to notice it, especially as the
Lord himself, from the whirlwind, condescended to
call the attention of the man of Uz to it. (Job xxxix.
13, &c.) " Gavest thou (saith the Lord) the goodly
wings unto the peacocks, or wings and feathers unto
the ostrich, which leaveth her eggs in the earth,
and warmeth them in dust, and forge tteth that the
foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may
break them? She is hardened against her young
ones, as though they were not hers : her labour is
in vain without fear ; because God hath deprived
her of wisdom ; neither hath he imparted to her
understanding. What time she lifteth up herself
on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider."
Such a relation concerning the ostrich, and given
by the Lord himself in his blessed word, certainly
merits our attention. But we must be indebted to
the account of travellers who have visited the
634
countries where the ostriches are, in order to enter
into the beauties which are contained in the Lord's
description of this wonderful bird.
Dr. Shaw, in his travels into Arabia, had opportu-
nity of making- many curious observations con-
cerning the ostrich, and he hath very largely
described the properties of the ostrich in the
Supplement to his book of Travels, folio edition,
page 66, &c. The doctor's account of the ostrich
becomes very explanatory of the several circum-
stances related concerning this bird in the book of
Job. The wings and feathers of the ostrich are so
formed, as to be expanded at ease, that they form
a kind of sail, not only from motion, but from the
air, to hasten the flight ; so that at any time, if
when feeding in the valley, or behind some rocky
or sandy eminence in the deserts, they are sur-
prised, they stay not to be curiously viewed or
examined, neither are the Arabs ever dexterous
enough to overtake them, though mounted upon
their jinse, or horses. As the Lord hath described
the ostrich, so it is found, " what time she lifteth
up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his
rider." " Nothing certainly (saith this writer) can
be more beautiful and entertaining than the sight.
The wings of the ostrich, by their repeated though
unwearied vibrations, equally serving them for sails
and oars, whilst their feet no less assist them when
conveying them out of sight, and no less insensible
of fatigue." The circumstance of "leaving* her
eggs in the earth, and being hardened against her
young," forms another remarkable feature in the
nature and character of the ostrich. This bird lays
very many eggs, from thirty to fifty, and some-
times more in number ; probably so appointed by
the Great Author of nature, to make suitable pro-
vision for those very circumstances : not, as it
635
appears, for the brood only, but for food for herself
and young. For here is another singularity in
the ostrich, — she is exceedingly fond of her own
eggs : in which the wisdom of the ostrich's Creator
becomes striking. For those parts of the Sahara
which these birds chiefly frequent, are destitute of
all manner of food and herbage, except some few
tufts of coarse grass, so that by this means there
is always a supply of food to answer the demands
of hunger.
JHer want of feeling to her young is so great that
there seems to be no instance of natural affection
in the ostrich, nothing of that storge which marks
the tenderness of the hen, and others of the winged
race. She forsakes her nest upon the most trifling
occasion, and never returns to it again. The Arabs
will sometimes meet with whole nests of the ostrich
eggs undisturbed, and sometimes young ostriches
straggling and moaning about half starved, like so
many distressed orphans, bewailing the loss of
their mother. What a beautiful light this throws
upon that passage in the prophet, " The daughter
of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in
the wilderness." (Lam. iv. 3.)
And so senseless is this bird in respect to caution
in food, that she swallows indiscriminately every
thing that comes in her way, whether it be rags,
leather, wood, stone, or iron. " I saw (saith Dr.
Shaw) one of these birds at Oran that swallowed,
without any seeming inconvenience, several leaden
bullets, as they were thrown upon the floor
scorching hot from the mold."
But such are the powers of digestion in the
ostrich, as, by their strong friction, to wear even
iron itself, that evidently no injury is induced by
this inattention. It should seem indeed as if their
organs of smell or taste were totally different from
636
o u
all other creatures ; for the ostrich is fond of her
own dung, and will greedily eat it as soon as voided.
All which particularities serve to illustrate what is
said concerning her, u because God hath deprived
her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her un-
derstanding."
I would only add under this article, that in Scrip-
ture sometimes the owl is put for the ostrich, but
corrected in the margin. Jaanah and Rinonem are
the names by which, in the Scripture, the ostrich is
known ; the latter name from Onah and Ronah,
meaning noise : for by night their cry is hideous.
Dr. Shaw sailh, " I have often heard them groan, as
if in the greatest agonies." The prophet beautifully
makes allusion to it when he saith, u I will make a
wailinglike the dragon, and mourning as theostrich."
(Micah i. 8. See Isa. xiii. 21, in the margin ; and
xxxiv. 13, in the margin; and xlii. 20, in the margin.)
OTHNI. Son of Shemaiah. (IChron. xxvi. 7.) From
Let, time, and the addition, my.
OTHNIEL. Son of Kenaz. (Josh. xv. 17.) From Leth,
time — and El, God.
OUTCASTS. We several times in Scripture meet
with this expression. It is spoken not only concern-
ing the several nations of the earth, but of Israel
also. Thus by the prophet Isaiah, chap. lvi. 8.
" The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of
Israel, saith, Yet will I gather others to him besides
those which are gathered to him." So that it should
seem, that there is a peculiar meaning in the term
outcasts, as if the outcasts of other nations had a
reference to that part of the Gentile church which
is to be brought into one fold, under one shepherd,
Jesus Christ the Lord. And concerning the out-
casts of Israel, in several parts of Scripture we find
the Lord is expressing more than ordinary atten-
tion to them. "They called thee an outcast, saith the
0 u
637
the Lord, by Jeremiah, (chap. xxx. 17.) saying,
This is Zion whom no man seeketh after. The Lord
will gather them ; (for he saith, Ps. cxlvii. 2) " The
Lord doth build up Jerusalem, he gathered to-
gether the outcasts of Israel." And during their state
of being outcasts, the Lord watcheth over them for
good, yea, he makes provision for them even in the
midst of their enemies. There is a beautiful passage
to this effect, (Isa. xvi. 4.) "Let mine outcasts,
dwell with thee, Moab ; be thou a covert to them
from the face of the spoiler." Rather than God's
children shall go without food, they shall be fed
from their enemies' table. Even Moab, the sworn
foe of Israel, shall take them in when they are
turned out'. If the Lord hath corrected them, they
are still his children ; if the Lord for a time hath
cast them out, he hath not cast them off. Outcasts
they are, but still they are the Lord's outcasts ;
the Lord still owns them as such. " Let mine out-
casts dwell with thee, Moab ; and do thou defend
them, shelter them, feed them, and take them in as
inmates for a time. In due season the Lord will take
them home ; for the Lord will set up an ensign for
the nations, and assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth." (Isa. xi. 12.)
What a blessed consideration ariseth out of this
view of the outcasts both of the Jewish and the Gen-
tile church. Jesus speaks of both when he saith,
(John x. 16.) " And other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring-, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd." And agreeably to this, the prophet
Isaiah was commissioned to tell the church that in
that day, meaning the gospel-day, " five cities in
Egypt should speak the language of Canaan. And
in that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in
the midst of the land of Egypt; and the Lord shall
G38
be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know
the Lord in that day." And after many blessings of
grace that the Lord proraiseth shall be shown to
Egypt in smiting and healing, it is added, "whom
the Lord of hosts will bless, saying, Blessed be
Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of mine
hands, and Israel mine inheritance." (See Isa. xix-
18, to the end,)
OWL. Moses places the owl among the unclean
birds ; but whether all, or of what species, as there
are several, is not said. (Lev. xi. 17. Deut. xiv. 17.)
The loneliness of the owl gave occasion to the
Psalmist to describe thereby his solitary state of
affliction. (Ps. cii. 7.)
OZEM. One ot the sons of Jesse. (1 Chron. ii. 15.)
And there is another called by this name, the son of
Jerahmeel. (1 Chron. ii. 25.) Derived from Tzam,
to fast.
OZNL Son of Gad, of the family of the Oznites.
(Num. xxvi. 16.) The meaning of the name seems
to be my balances.
P.
PAARAI. The Arbite. (See 2 Sam. xxiii. 35.)
Wherefore so called is not so easy to determine,
unless from being born in Arbe, called afterwards
Hebron. The founder of Arbe or Hebron was Arbe,
as it is probable the city was first possessed by the
Anaks, afterwards it was given to Judah in the lot
of Caleb. There was a tradition among the Rab-
bins, as it is related by Jerome in his questions on
Genesis, that Arbe, the original name of Hebron,
was so called because it means four, and Adam,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried there. It
PA
G39
is remarkable that Paraac, in 1 Chron. xi. 37, is
called Naarai.
PADAN ARAM. A remarkable place in Jacob's his-
tory. (See Gen. xxviii. 6.) From Padan, of the
field — and Aram, Syria.
PADON. One of the Nethenims. (Ezra ii. 41.) Her
name is probably derived from Padah, to redeem.
See Nethinims.
PAG1EL. Son of Ocran. (Num. vii. 72.) His name
comes from Pagah, to pray — perhaps so called
from being- the child of prayer to God. (See 1 Sam.
i. 20. margin of the Bible.)
PAHATH MOAB. Place so called in Moab. Pahath
is probably derived from Pacah, prince. (Ezraii.6.)
PALAL. The son of Uzai. (Neh. iii. 25.) So called
from Pillel, to beseech.
PALESTINE. See Canaan.
PALM TREE. This beautiful tree is spoken of in
Scripture with so much commendation, that it
merits our attention ; and the more so because the
Lord Jesus, when describing the loveliness of his
church, compares her stature to it, and speaks with
a degree of fervour and delight while professing his
determination to take hold of her. " I said I will
go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the
boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as
the clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose
like apples." (Song vii. 7, 8.)
So very highly esteemed in the eastern world
was the palm tree, that Jericho, where they chiefly
grew, was called by the name, "The city of palm
trees." (Deut. xxxiv. 3.) Engedi was also called
Hazazon Tamar, or the village of palm trees, from
the number of palm trees which grew there. The
Jews called the palm tree Tamar. And not only in
Judea, but in all places of the east where palms
are found, the branches of it have always been
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celebrated as the tokens of triumph and victory ;
hence when the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem,
the multitude, as if overruled by a divine power,
u took branches of palm trees, and went forth to
meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King
of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord."
(John xii. 12, 13.) And hence also, as if to shew
the same glorious testimonyto the Lord Jesus, the
redeemed in heaven are represented as " standing
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands." (Rev.
vii. 9.) I defy any man upon earth to shew the
shadow of a reason wherefore the correspondence
between Christ's appearance upon earth, in the
day of his unequalled humility, and the day of his
supreme power and glory, should have been thus
set forth, but from the one certain and unquestion-
able truth of his almighty power and Godhead, and
the divinity of his mission. What could have in-
duced the whole multitude to have honoured Christ
with those palm trees in the days of his flesh, when
in the garb of a poor Jew, but the power of God
overruling the whole mind of the people as the mind
of one man ? And wherefore the same display made
in heaven, but to testify the approbation of God ?
I cannot prevail upon myself to dismiss our atten-
tion to the palm tree before that I have first re-
marked some of the properties of it, by way of
illustrating the beauty of our Lord's comparing his
church to it. The Psalmist hath said, (Ps. xcii. 12.)
that " the righteous shall flourish like the palm
tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." And
there will appear a striking allusion between the
believer in Jesus and the palm tree of Engedi, if
we consider a few of the leading particulars. The
growth of the palm is very upright and tall ; and,
as we are told by naturalists, is to old age always in
641
this state of progression. And surely the ohuroh of
Jesus, and every individual of the church, is in con-
stant tendency upward. Trees of the Lord's " right
hand planting are trees of righteousness," always
supposed to be looking upward to Jesus, and their
branches extending in every direction according to
the exercise of his grace in them, by living wholly
upon him in his person, blood, and righteousness.
Moreover, the palm tree is very fruitful, and the
fruit is both lovely to the eye and delicious to the
taste. And such are the followers of the Lord Jesus.
What more lovely than to behold a truly re-
generated believer in Christ Jesus ? and who
more blessed in his day and generation ? Like the
lofty and luxuriant palm tree of Engedi, which
forms both a shade to the traveller to protect him
from the heat, and fruit to refresh him as he passeth
by, so the church of Jesus becomes a blessedness
in her Lord to every spiritual traveller, and affords
shelter, and nourishment, and every delight.
There is one property yet, if possible, more
striking in the palm tree, which serves to open to a
spiritual improvement, in allusion to Christ and his
church, of a very singular nature, and peculiar, as
far as I have learned, to the palm ; namely, that the
chief source of life in this tree is in its top ; or, as it
is physically called, the brain of the tree. We are
told by those who are acquainted with the nature of
palm trees, that if by any means this top be cut off,
the tree is for ever after barren. Now here the reader
will instantly perceive the striking resemblance be-
tween the palm tree and the child of God. To be
wholly in Jesus is found the source of life and fruit-
fulness ; and were it possible for a believer to be
separated from Christ, yea, but for a moment,
everlasting barrenness would follow. How bless-
edly hath Jesus spoken to this point when he said,
VOL. VI. 2 T
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" From me is thy fruit found." (Hos. xiv. 8.) And so
again, (John xv. 4.) u Abide in me, and I in you ;
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide
in me."
We are told that the palm tree is an evergreen.
On the top of the tree is a kind of tuft or coronet,
which never falls off, but is continually the same
in verdure. A beautiful representation this of the
church in Jesus. Many parts of Scripture corres-
pond in speaking of the real disciple of Christ as
one whose "leaf shall never fade nor fall ;" and
certainly, in the unceasing spring and summer of
his glorious head, into whom he is ingrafted, there
are no wintery dispensations or change.
One property more merits regard in the resem-
blance of the palm tree to the Christian, namely,
the great duration and continuance of the palm.
Dr. Shaw, in his travels, relates that the commonly-
received opinion of the inhabitants of those conn-
tries where palm trees mostly abound is, that for
seventy or eighty years the palm will live, bearing
fruit to a great extent, even of 300 lb. weight of
dates every year. It need not be noticed, by way
of shewing the striking similarity to our nature, that
the Psalmist represents the age of man asthree-sc re
years and ten, and (saith the Psalmist) " by reason
of strength sometimes to four-score years." (Ps.
xc. 10.) What a lovely palm tree then is the real
follower of the Lord Jesus, if thus living to extreme
old age he still brings forth fruit to the praise of the
Lord's grace, "some thirty fold, some sixty fold,
some an hundred fold !" So speaks the Holy Ghost
concerning the faithful : " Those that be planted in
the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of
our God ; they shall still bring forth fruit in old age,
they shall be fat and flourishing ; to shew that the
043
Lord is upright : he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him." (Ps. xcii. 13—15.)
PALSY. A particular malady of body inducing a
deadness in the part affected. We read, (Mark
ii. 1 — 13.) of an interesting cure the Lord Jesus
wrought on a poor man labouring under this disease ;
and the complaint of this cripple in body gave
occasion to our Lord to manifest thereby his sove-
reign and almighty power in healing the crippled
state of the souls of his people. The palsy is one of
the most striking emblems of the dead and helpless
state of our fallen nature. Every sinner, until
healed by Christ, is palsied in all his faculties ; so
that in all the instances of palsy we behold in the
present day, we see living evidences before our
eyes of the effects both of original and actual sin.
The sinner is no more able in himself to give health
and activity to his soul, than the man of palsy to
rise up and use the limbs which are benumbed. Oh !
that a sense of this most unquestionable truth were
but fully incorporated in our nature, that the Lord
Jesus, beholding the faith which he alone can give,
might say to the paralytic in soul as to this sick of
the palsy in body, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
are forgiven thee."
PALTI. The son of Raphec. (See Num. xiii. 9.)
He was one of those sent by Moses to spy the land
of promise. His name, if derived from Palat, signi-
fies deliverance. It should seem by 2 Sam. xxiii. 26,
that there must have been a place called Palat, for
Helez, one of David's worthies, is said to be the
Paltite or Pelonite. (See 1 Chron. xi. 27.)
PALTIEL. Son of Azzan, a prince in the tribe of
Issachar. (Num. xxxiv. 26.) His name is com-
pounded of Palat, deliverance — and El, God.
PAMPHYLIA. A province of Asia. Here Paul came
in his travels. (Acts xiii. 13 ; xiv. 24.) The name
2 t 2
644
is taken from the Greek, and signifies altogether
amiable or lovely.
PAPh'OS. A city in the island of Cyprus, where the
apostle Paul struck El vmas the sorcerer with blind-
ness. (Acts xiii. 6 — 12.)
PARABLE. A mode of speaking, in order to illus-
trate and make familiar to our apprehension divine
and spiritual things, by human and natural figures
of expression. It was a method of teaching common
in the eastern part of the world, and hence all the
sacred writers and sevants of the Lord adopted it.
Yea, the Lord Jesus himself condescended to the
same ; and indeed so much so that at one time we
are told, " without a parable spake he not unto
them." (Matt. xiii. 34.)
There is another sense of the word parable, in
which it is sometimes used in Scripture when
spoken in a way of reproach ; hence Moses, when
charging Israel to faithfulness, declares that if the
people of God apostatize from him, and set up idols
in the land, the Lord would scatter them among all
nations, " and thou shalt become (saith Moses) an
astonishment, a proverb, (or parable) and a by-
word, among all nations whither the Lord shall
lead thee." (Dent, xxviii. 37.) See Types.
PARADISE. We find this word three times in the
New Testament, (Luke xxiii. 43. 2 Cor. xii. 4. Rev.
ii. 7.) but the word is not used in the Old. But as
the word itself is derived from the Hebrew or
Chaldee, it signifies forest or garden of trees ;
and the same meaning is annexed to what Neheniiah
useth for the king's forest, Neh. ii. 8 ; and what
Solomon saith, Eccles. ii. 5, about his gardens
and orchards; and of the church it has the same
meaning when Jesus commending her saith, " Thy
plants are an orchard of pomegranates" — that is, a
very paradise.
645
We are apt to confine our ideas of the word para-
dise to the garden of Eden, as being- so during our
first parents' innocence ; and this being lost, we
now look forward to the possession of a better
paradise in the kingdom of glory. What the Lord
Jesus said to the dying thief upon the cross, (Luke
xxiii. 43.; and to the church of Ephesus, (Rev. ii. 7.)
have tended much to establish this opinion. It is
sufficient however for all the purposes of knowledge
concerning the word itself, that it means a place of
unspeakable happiness and delight ; and our
Lord's promise to the dying thief decidedly settles
the point. I would only beg to observe upon that
sweet promise of Jesus, in what he plainly shewed,
and by his own words, in the manner of expression,
that the blessedness of paradise consisted. The
happiness of the poor pardoned sinner was not in
the place, not simply as paradise, for this he might
have been, and in the company of angels also, and
yet not blessed. This was not the chief blessing
spoken of by the Lord Jesus; but the felicity of
which paradise was made up, and which formed the
sum and substance of all joy, was Christ. Verily,
(said Jesus) K I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be
with me in paradise."
Shall I be indulged with subjoining one thought
more on the subject of paradise in general, and the
case of this highly-favoured pardoned sinner in
particular, just to remark that this promise of Jesus
to him, that that very day he should be with Christ
in paradise, carries with it a conviction of the truth
of that doctrine, that the souls of the redeemed
pass instantly to glory on their separation from the
body. The voice John heard from heaven, com-
manding him to write " Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord ; from henceforth,'1 that is, imme-
diately, instantly, the bodies rest from their labours,
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until the resurrection of the just, and then the so-
lemn events Jesus speaks of will take place. (John
v. 28, 29.) But to be to-day with Jesus in paradise,
carries with it a palpable demonstration of imme-
diate consciousness and unspeakable felicity. I beg
the reader to connect with this what the Holy
Ghost hath said by the prophet of the consciousness
of the opposite character entering eternity. (Isa.
xiv. 9, 10.) In the person of the impious king of
Babylon, the sacred writer thus addresseth him :
" Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee
at thy coining; it stirreth up the dead for thee,
even all the chief ones of the earth ; it hath raised
up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
All they shall speak, and say unto thee, Art thou
also become weak as we ? art thou become like
unto us?" Now here we see not only a state of
living consciousness described, but the miserable
already departed speaking to the miserable now
come among them, and giving thein the horrible
gratulation of partnership in endless woe. Let the
reader compare both descriptions ; that which Jesus
said to the penitent thief, and that which is here
described by the prophet ; and let him then form
his own judgment whether the happiness and misery
of the eternal world to the different characters is
not immediate on death.
PARMENAS. One of the seven deacons. (Acts vi.
5, 6.) His name is derived from the Greek word>
to abide.
PARNACH. Father of Elizaphan. (Num. xxxiv. 25. )
If from Parah, to produce ; and Nachah, spice, it
should seem that his name meant grateful odour or
smell.
PAROSH. We read of the tribe of Parosh, Ezra
ii. 3. Perhaps his name is derived from Parah, (o
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produce ; and Hash, moth ; and it' so, the meaning
might be, life is but vanity.
PARSHANDOTHA. One of the sons of Hainan,
destroyed with his father. (Esther ix. 7.) A
Persian name, supposed to signify exposed to trou-
ble.
PARTHIANS. We read of them Acts ii. 9. Sup-
posed to be the same as the ancient Persians.
PARUAH. The father of Jehoshaphat. (See 1 Kings
iv. 17.) From Parah, to flourish.
PASHUR. The son of Immer ; a deadly foe to the
church. His name is derived from Pashah, to
spread ; but from his enmity to the people of God
while governor in the land, and his cruelty upon
the person of the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet
called him Magor-missabib, which the margin of
the Bible renders fear roundabout. (See Jer. xx. 1
— 6.) I pause over the name and character ol this
man just to remark the blessedness of all times in
the church, when the Lord is pleased to give to
his exercised people precious testimonies to his
truth over and above the grace he manifests to
their own hearts. Though, as Asaph saith, ap-
parently the way of the wicked prospereth to out-
ward view, yet to inward feelings they are total
strangers to any good ; and who shall take upon
them to say what.sorrows fill their minds ? u There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (Isa.
Ivii. 21.) When the Lord's people therefore hear
of such characters, or behold them in their own
neighbourhood, (and they are to be found in every
place) aud observe in the midst of much outside
appearances of gaiety, that they are like so many
Pashur Magor-missabibs in themselves, surely a
voice from every parish steeple where they dwell
could not more loudly testify to the truths of God !
I would recommend the reader, at any time, when
648 P A
at a loss to explain what he beholds of the pros-
perity of the wicked and the adversity of the Lord's
exercised family, to read what Asaph, taught by
the Holy Ghost, hath said, Ps. lxxiii. throughout ;
and if he adds to Asaph's observations what the
man of Uz hath said on the same subject, he will
find both profitable. (Job xxi. 7 — 13.) Moses also,
the man of God, hath left upon record the portrait
of the inward terrors of the haunted mind. (Deut.
xxviii. 65 — 67.)
PASSING THROUGH THE FIRE. We read con-
cerning Manasseh, (2 Chron. xxxiii. 6.) that " he
caused his children to pass through the fire in the
valley of the son of Hinnom." And it should seem,
from the positive precept which the Lord gave by
Moses to Israel to refrain from such horrid customs,
that the thing itself was very common in the east,
and of great antiquity. (See Lev. xviii. 21.) Indeed,
even to the present hour, if we may give credit
to modern historians, the funeral burnings which
many make of themselves in honour to the dead,
serve to shew that the minds of men are not by
nature better than from the first.
We are told that there is still a custom observed
in the east, where at an annual feast, called the
Feast of Fire, many voluntarily engage to walk bare-
foot over a vivid fire of burning embers, and of
great length. This horrid custom, at this dreadful
fair, is kept for near three weeks, during which
time the wretched creatures which engage to this
service pass through the element when stirred up
and quickened to burn more lively; and they who
walk with the slowest pace are thought the highest
of. When the carnival is finished, those who sur-
vive are crowned with flowers.
Oh, thou blessed Jesus! what unspeakable
mercies hast thou bestowed upon thy people in
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649
bringing life and immortality to light by thy gos-
pel ! To what a deplorable state is our nature
universally reduced by the fall ; and how great are
our privileges in the Lord in having raised up our
poor nature from such gross ignorance and sin !
See Moloch.
PASSION. We find mention made of our Lord's
passion in the Acts of the Apostles: (chap. i. 3.) and
indeed the whole tendency of the Scriptures is to'
bring the church acquainted with this one great
event, in the sufferings and death of Jesus. The
reader will do well to have this always in re-
membrance in all his researches and enquiries con-
cerning Christ.
PASSOVER. While we have the comment which
God the Holy Ghost hath given us by his servant
Paul, (1 Cor. v. 7.) concerning the Passover, in
expressly calling Christ by that name, we must be
convinced that it is our highest interest and most
bounden duty to study the subject with the closest
apprehension, in order to obtain the clearest sense
of what the important subject of the Passover
means. The reader, therefore, I trust, will bear
with me if I call his attention somewhat more
particularly to this point.
The Jews called the Passover Paschah or Pesach,
and the original meaning is flight or passage —
perhaps in allusion to the flight or hasty departure
of Israel from Egypt. We have a very circum-
stantial account of the Passover, Exod. xii. to
which I refer. The Israelites, no doubt, had higher
views in the institution itself than to suppose it
merely referred as a memorial of their deliverance
from Egypt. They considered it typical ; and the
ordination of it being of perpetual standing in the
church, must have led them to this conclusion.
And may we not add, that since all the leading
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features of the redemption by the Lord Jesus, in
his person, work, offices, and character, are more or
less exhibited in shadow and figure in the Passover,
surely the Lord the Spirit gave to many a true
Israelite grace and faith to eye, in the paschal
lamb, the type of the " Lamb slain from the foun-
dation of the world." (Rev. xiii. 8.)
If the lamb appointed in the Jewish Passover
was to be a male of the first year without blemish
and without spot ; such was Christ. If the lamb was
set apart four days before the Passover — so was
Christ, not only in the original purpose, and council,
and foreknowledge of God before all worlds, but also
in four days' entrance intoJerusalem, as it is remark-
able Christ did before his sufferings and death. And
if the Jewish lamb was roasted whole with fire, and
not a bone of him broken, who but must see in this a
type of him who, in the accomplishment of salvation
sustained all the fire of divine wrath against sin
in his sacrifice, and whose bones, it is expressly
said, were not broken, that this Scripture might
be fulfilled? (Johnxix.36.)
Various are the accounts given by various
writers of the manner in which the Jews of modern
times observe the Passover. They all make it a
very high festival. Eight days, for the most part
they continue this festivity, during which time they
would not for the world knowingly have any leaven
within their houses. Nothing would hurt the
mind of a Jew more than the discovery of any thing
disposed to fermentation, or to make leaven. And
on the fourteenth day of Nisan the Passover begins.
And the ceremony generally commenceth in every
family by the first-born observing fasting, by way
of reference to the destruction of the first-born in
Egypt. When this is over, and the time of the
evening service being come, all the household
enter on prayer, which when finished they proceed
PA
651
to the feast of unleavened bread, with some por-
tion of a lamb, and bitter herbs. During* the service
they hold wine in their hands, and recount the
history of their fathers in Egypt, and the Lord's
deliverance of them. The close of their devotions
is generally with some of the Psalms, such as from
the one hundred and twelfth Psalm, to the one
hundred and eighteenth, always beginning with
Hallelujah. When the devotional part is all over,-
they sit down to eat and drink, generally break up
their meeting with praying for the health and pros-
perity of the prince in whose dominions they dwelt,
agreeably to the advice of Jeremiah, chap. xxix. 7.
So much concerning the method of the observance
of the Passover by the children of Israel. I cannot
dismiss this part of the subject without first remark-
ing, that as far as decency and seriousness are
observed by them in their seasons of worship, it
were to be wished that many Christians would fol-
low their example.
It appears from the relation given by the several
evangelists, that the Lord Jesus observed this
feast of the Passover four times during his ministry,
which was but about three years and a half; but
by our Lord's entering upon his ministry some-
time before the first of the four Passovers he kept,
the annual period came round the fourth time
before his crucifixion, and therefore we count four in
the life of Jesus.
The first public Passover Christ observed is re-
lated to us by John, chap. ii. 13, to the end.
The second Passover which Christ graced with
his presence is recorded John v. 1, &c. when he
healed the cripple at the pool of Bethesda.
The third public Passover where we find the
Lord Jesus also present is recorded John vi. 4. The
feast we read of John vii. 37. was the feast
of tabernacles. (See John vii. 2, &c.)
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The fourth and last Passover the Lord Jesus
honoured in the observance was, as is recorded by
all the evangelists, when in the midst of it he sum-
med up and finished the whole shadow of types
and ordinances in that one offering of himself upon
the cross, whereby * he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified." (See the relation of this
Passover at large, Matt. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke
xxii. John xii. and xiii.)
I would only make one observation upon the
whole in this place, namely, if the Lord Jesus never
once during his ministry omitted his attendance
on the Passover, how hath he thereby endeared to
his redeemed his holy Supper, instituted and ap-
pointed as it was by himself to take place in his
church in the room of the Jewish Passover! Surely
by this Jesus might be supposed to intimate his
holy pleasure, that his people should be always
present at the celebration of it. Methinks by
this constant attendance of the Lord, he meant
to say that not one of his little ones should
be absent at his Supper. And his servant, the
apostle, seems to have had the same views of his
Master's gracious design in this particular when
he saith, " For as often as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he
comes." (1 Cor. xi. 26.)
PASTOR or SHEPHERD. A well-known office of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost delights
to set forth Jesus under this lovely character in all
his word. Sometimes he represents him as the
Great Shepherd, (Heb. xiii. 20.) — and sometimes
he calls him the Good Shepherd, which giveth his
life for the sheep, (John x. 11.) — and by his servant
the prophet Zechariah, he calls him Jehovah's
Shepherd, (Zech. xiii. 7.)— and by Peter, the Chief
Shepherd, holding him forth to the under pastors
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653
of his flock as a glorious pattern for them to follow,
assuring- them that when the Chief Shepherd shall
appear " they shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away." (1 Pet. v. 4.) And to distinguish
him from every other, and as the only Shepherd
of Jehovah, to whom the flock is given, and who
alone was, and is, able to purchase it with his blood,
and to preserve it by his power, by h'is servant the
prophet Ezekiel, he is expressly called the one
Shepherd ; " I will set up one Shepherd over them,
and he shall feed them." (Ezek. xxxiv. 23.)
The Holy Ghost hath not only thus delighted to
mark the sweet features of his character, but hath
given the several features also of his office. "He
shall feed his flock (saith the Lord, by the prophet
Isaiah, chap. xl. 11.) like a shepherd." And how
is that? Surely, from a knowledge of their persons,
their wants, their desires, their abilities, Jesus
graciously makes suitable provision for every one,
and for all. It is his flock the church, both from
the Father's gift, his own purchase, the conquests
of his grace, and the voluntary willingness of his
people in the day of his power. " He calleth his
own sheep by name : they shall all pass (saith the
Holy Ghost, by the prophet Jeremiah, chap, xxxiii.
13.) under the hands of him that telleth them."
Hence, from a knowledge of their number, their
persons, their wants, and necessities, it is impos-
sible that one can be overlooked, forgotten, neg-
lected, or lost. He saith himself, " My sheep shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of
my hand." Oh, the precious office and character
of the Lord Jesus as the Pastor and Shepherd of his
people ! He feeds, he protects, he heals, he wat-
ches over, restores when wandering, and gathers
them out from all places whither they have wan-
dered in the cloudy and dark day, and leads them
13.54 P A
in the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake.
Jesus hath his under pastors also, by whom lie
feeds and directs his flock ; hence the Lord, by
Jeremiah, promised, " I will give you pastors ac-
cording- to mine heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding." (Jer. hi. 15.) And
a whole chapter is spent by the prophet Ezekiel,
the thirty-fourth, in reproving the evil pastors who
abused their office, and fed themselves of the flock,
and not their people. Sometimes princes and go-
vernors are called pastors ; thus David is said to
have been taken from the sheepfold to be ruler
over the Lord's people Israel. (2 Sam. vii. 8.)
PATARA. A sea-port of Lycia. It was here Paul
the apostle found a ship bound for Phoenicia, into
which he entered. (Acts xxi. 1.)
PATMOS. An island in the JEgean Sea, where
the beloved apostle John was banished. (Rev. i. 9.)
PATHROS. A city of Egypt. (Tsa. xi. 11. Jer.
xliv. 1.) Perhaps derived from Path, mouth, — and
Rap h os, water.
PATHRUSIM. Inhabitants of Pathros.
PATRIARCHS. This name is not of the Hebrew,
but Greek language. The title is chiefly confined
to the heads of families before the law ; for when
we speak of the patriarchs without particularizing
by name it is generally understood of those before
the flood, and afterwards confined to the persons
and families of Abraham, lssac, Jacob, and their
tribe. The Hebrews rather call them princes than
patriarchs, and distinguish all of this description by
the general appellation Roshe Aboth. As to the name
of patriarch given to the Greek church in modern
times, this is altogether fanciful, and not derived
from any authority in Scripture.
PATROBAS. A companion of the apostle Paul.
(Rom. xvi. 14.) His name hath an allusion to some-
what that is fatherly.
P A 655
PAU. The name of a city. (Gen. xxxvi. 39.)
Perhaps derived from Pah ah, to cry.
PAUL. The apostle. His name at the first was
Saul ; but, as is generally supposed, after his be-
ing- made an instrument in the hand of God for the
conversion of Sergius Paulus, the deputy of Paphos,
(see Acts xiii. 7.) he was called Paul. Some
have indeed supposed that the change of name was
made at his own conversion ; but this doth not seem
likely, as so long a space had taken place between
that period and the time of Sergius Paulus's con-
version, during all which the Holy Ghost still call-
ed him Saul. His own conversion was about the
year of our Lord God 35 ; whereas the conversion
of the deputy of Paphos did not happen until
the year 45. See particularly Acts xiii. 2 ;
where God the Holy Ghost called our apostle by
name, Saul ; and the manner of expression in which
the name of Paul is first spoken of in the Scrip-
tures, seems to imply that it was then only given to
him, for afterwards we hear no more of the name
of Saul. (See Acts xiii. 9.) And some have gone
so far as to say, that the Deputy himself called
Paul by this name, as giving him one of his own
names in token of his love for him, as Vespasian
the emperor, it is well known, called Josephus
Flavius, his own name, out of regard.
Concerning this great apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it would form a place more suited for
the separate volume of an history, than as an arti-
cle of a mere explanatory memorandum in a Con-
cordance, to enter into a detail of Paul's life and
ministry. Pleasing as the subject in itself would
be, I must suppress the gratification. Indeed a
reference to the sacred word of God is much more
suited for the obtaining information of Paul's his-
tory, because while attending to the memoirs of the
656
apostle we may also gather instruction from his
doctrine. It will answer all the purpose to
be wished for, by way of information, concerning
Paul, in a work of this kind, just to observe that
from his conversion to his martyrdom we find in
the apostle's history one uniform invariable course
of faith and practice in the path of the gospel.
And those fourteen blessed Epistles which God the
Holy Ghost hath given to the church by him, will
render his memory blessed to the latest ages. It
should seem, from calculating the periods of Paul's
life and ministry, that he was born about two
years before Christ's incarnation, and suffer-
ed martyrdom under the emperor ISero in the
year 66.
PEACE. It would have been perfectly unnecessary
to have noticed this word, in order to have ex-
plained its general sense and meaning in reference
. to the use of it among men, had that been all.
The peace and war of nations, or among houses or
families, or kingdoms, are terms with which every
one is familiar. But the Scripture sense of the
word peace, and more especially the gospel signi-
fication of it, in respect to that peace believers
have with God in Christ makes it well worth atten-
tion in a work of this kind.
It may not perhaps have struck an ordinary rea-
der, that the word peace carries with it the idea
that the breach then said to be made up presup-
poses that there had been a state of amity existing
before the breach came in to interrupt it ; and this is
indeed the blessedness of the gospel. Hence it is
called the " ministry of reconciliation." (2 Cor. v.
18.) So that to reconcile God and man in Christ,
which is the grand object of the gospel, is to bring
together again those who had before been friends,
but were then at enmity ; and hence is clearly
657
proved, what the word of God all along is setting
forth, that the present state is not the first, nei-
ther will it be the final state of man : it is but in-
termediate and preparatory. There was a period
in the annals of eternity when God and man, in the
person of the Glory-man, set up before all worlds,
were in perfect amity and friendship. And there
is another period to come when, from the re-
conciliation now made between God and man in
the blood of the cross, this amity and friendship
will continue uninterrupted and unbroken to all
eternity.
And there is another sweet thought connected
with the gospel meaning of the word peace, name-
ly, that all the overtures for a reconciliation began
on the part of God, the injured party ; and all the
peace that follows becomes the sole result of his
divine operation. Jehovah it is that first publisheth
his royal intentions of being reconciled to his of-
fending creature man. It is Jehovah that points
out and provides the means, and accomplisheth the
end, in the attainment of it. Nothing on the part
of the sinner could be found even helpful towards
it; yea, so totally incapable of putting forth the
least aiding hand upon this business is the trans-
gressor, that when proposed to him he must be
made willing to accept it ; and before proposed to
hirn, he is unconscious of the want of it. Bless-
edly therefore is it said by the apostle, under the
authority of the Holy Ghost, (2 Cor. v. 19.) that
u God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself." And blessedly doth he open his commis-
sion, when acting as the servant of his royal master,
he adds, u Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us,
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to
God."
VOL. VI. 2 u
058
Such then is the Scripture sense of that peace
of God and peace with God, in the blood and righ-
teousness of God's dear Son, u which passeth all
understanding, keeping the heart and mind in
Jesus Christ." (Phil. iv. 7.) And so truly great
and glorious was the first promulgation of it, when
the news broke out in heaven, that the holy angels
delighted to be the first preachers of it upon earth.
The multitude of them that came flying down to
the Jewish shepherds at Bethlehem in the morning
of Christ's nativity, hailed them with this joyful
sound, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, and good-will towards men." (Luke ii. 13,
14.) And the prophet in ages before, looking into
gospel times, was so struck with the contemplation
of the work in the exercise of the ministry of re-
conciliation, that he declared the very feet of them
that preached it became beautiful to the view of
broken-hearted sinners. " How beautiful (said
Isaiah) upon the mountains are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, that publishefh peace, that
bringeth good tidings of good, that publish eth sal-
vation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth !"
(Isa. lii. 7.)
PEARL. The pearl of great price, mentioned,
(Matt. xiii. 46.) being a figurative expression to de-
note the preciousness of Jesus and his salvation,
may serve to explain wherefore it is that the glories
of Christ's person, and the beauty of his church in
him, are so often set forth in Scripture under the
similitude of pearls, and rubies, and precious
stones. The Hebrews called pearls peninim, (Job
xxviii. 18. and Prov. iii. 15.) the same word is
translated rubies. Some have considered them
therefore as one and the same ; but certainly they
are very distinct things ; however, the spiritual
sense in that which relates to Christ and his church
may be called both. Hence the description of the
New Jerusalem. (Rev. xxi. 21.) And indeed it
is very blessed to eye Jesus under all the loveli-
ness of every thing- we meet with in the whole compass
of creation, both in the kingdoms of nature, pro-
vidence, grace, and glory. All that is lovely, or
beautiful, or useful, or ornamental, all derive their
exellency from him. Jesus and his salvation sur-
passed the gold of Ophir, the topaz of ^Ethiopia,
and all the pearls and rubies of the world. So
Jesus hath said, and so all his redeemed know it to
be true : " Riches and honour are with me ; (saith
Christ) yea, durable riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold ;
and my revenue than choice silver." (Prov. viii.
18, 19.)
PEDAHZUR. The father of Gamaliel. (Num. i.
10.) The stone of redemption is the meaning
of this remarkable name, if, as is reasonable to
suppose, the derivation is from Padah, to save —
and Tzur, stone.
PEDAH-EL. The son of Ammiud. (Num. xxxiv.
28.) Saved of God, from Padah, to save — and
El, God.
PEDAH-IAH. The father of Zebudah. (2 Kings
xxiii. 36.) We have several of this name in
the Scripture : the son of Jeconiah, 1 Chron.
iii. 18. — the son of Parosh, Neh. iii. 25. Saved
of the Lord, from Padah and Jah.
PEKAH. Son of Remaliah. (2 Kings xv.25.) He
that opens, from Pacah.
PEKAHI-JAH. Son of Menahim. (2 Kings xv. 22.)
The Lord opens, from Pacah, to open — and Jah,
the Lord.
PELAIAH. A Levite. (See Neh. viii. 7.) A thing-
secret, from Pelah, to hide.
2u 2
660
PEL ALIA H. Son of Amzi. (Neh. xi. 12.) Com-
pounded of Pillelj, to meditate or pray — and Jah,
the Lord.
PELAT1AH. Son of Hananiah. (1 Chron. iv. 42.)
There was another of this name in the days of
Ezekiel, chap. xi. 1. Derived from Palat, to de-
liver— and Jali, the Lord.
PELEG. Son of Eber. (Gen. xi. 16.) So called
from Pillig, to cut or divide.
PELET. One in David's army. From Palat, to
deliver.
PELETH. Son of Pallu. (Num. xvi. 1.) From
Palal, to judge.
PELETH ITES So called from Peleth, meaning
judges. The Pelethites and Cherithites (or Cherim,
more properly speaking) were much spoken of in
the days of David. (1 Sam xxx. 14. and 2 Sam.
viii. 18.) It should seem to have been an office in
the inferior courts for judging the people; hence
the Pelethites and Cherithites were judges. The
word Cherim means excommunication : and there
were three degrees of it observed. The first was
a simple separating, called Niddui ; the second
Cherim, somewhat like what the apostle calls Ana-
thema Maranatha ; and the third implied death,
and was called Shammathah.
PELICAN. The pelican is classed by Moses among
the unclean fowls. (Lev. xi. 18.) Notwithstanding
the Psalmist seems to have had much respect to
the solitary pursuit of this bird, when describing
his loneliness of soul under this figure — " I am like
a pelican of the wilderness." And if this psalm
be considered (as I confess I feel much inclined to
believe) to have jnore of David's Lord in it than
David, there is something very striking in the
similitude of the pelican. I refer the reader to my
Poor Man's Commentary, on the one hundred and
60' 1
second Psalm, for my thoughts concerning- Jesus
as the glorious person to whom the principal cha-
racters in that psalm have respect. The Hebrews
distinguished the pelican by the name Kaath. It
hath been a generally-received opinion, and some
of the early fathers have given countenance to it,
such as St. Austin, and Isidore, that the pelican
feeds her young with her blood, and by sprinkling
it on her young also contributes to their life. Be
the fact so or not, yet certain it is that our heavenly
Pelican both feeds and sprinkles his young with his
blood, and is their life and their portion for ever. He
saith himself, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
And whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the
last day." (John vi. 53, 54.) These are sweet
views of Jesus ! Blessed are the souls who are
daily living thus upon him. Surely the pelican in
this point of view becomes no unapt resemblance
of Christ.
PELONITE. An inhabitant of this city in Judea.
(1 Chron. xi. 36.) The name is taken from Pala,
somewhat concealed.
PENIEL. A spot remarkable in Scripture from the
vision of Jacob. The patriarch called it by this
name on this account ; for he said, " I have seen
God face to face, and my life is preserved." (See
Gen. xxxii. 30.) The word is a compound, from
Pana, to see — and El, God. And who was it
Jacob saw, and with whom did he wrestle? If
Jehovah, in his threefold character of person, Fa-
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, how could this be,
who is said to be invisible ? If K no man hath seen
God at any time," if, as Jehovah declared to Moses,
(Exod. xxxiii. 20.) " There shall no man see me
and live," who could this be whom the patriarch
665
Jacob saw, conversed and wrestled with, but the
Lord Jesus ? Him whom though no man hath seen
God at any time, yet " the only begotten Son
which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de-
clared him." (John i. 18.) Let the reader read
the whole passage concerning this Peniel, this
hallowed ground, as it is recorded through the
whole chapter, (Gen. xxxii.) and let him then com-
pare what is there said with what the prophet
Hosea, about a thousand years after, said concern-
ing this vision ; and let him then, looking up for
the teaching of God the Holy Ghost, determine
for himself. " He took his brother by the heel
(said Hosea, speaking of Jacob) in the womb, and
by his strength he had power with God ; yea, he
had power over the angel, and prevailed. He
wept and made supplication unto him. He found
him in Bethel, and there he spake with us, even
the Lord God of hosts : the Lord is his memorial."
(Hos. xii. 3—5.)
The history of Jacob, in this very interesting
transaction, 1 am not at present engaged in : it is
Jacob's Lord that we are now seeking after. And
when the reader hath duly attended to the several
striking particularities here recorded, and com-
pared them with other Scriptures, I venture to
believe that his conclusions will correspond with
mine, that this, and indeed all the representations
of the Old Testament concerning the Lord's
appearance and manifestation to his people, are
directly spoken of in reference to the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Let the reader first remark that the patriarch
called the place Peniel on this account, that " he had
seen God's face, and his life was preserved." And
vet we are told, (ver. 24.) that it was a man which
wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day.
P E .663
Now it is remarkable, that he whom the prophet
Hosea, in the passage just quoted, in one verse
calls the angel, in another he calls " the Lord God
of hosts," and saith that " the Lord is his memorial."
And observe the prophet doth not say an angel, but
the angel, thus particularizing and defining one
identical person ; and we well know that Christ is
often called the " angel of the covenant." (Mai.
iii. 1. Acts vii. 30, 31.) Indeed the patriarch
Jacob himself, in another period of his life, called
him by this name. (See Gen. xlviii. 15, 16.) And
if we add to these striking particulars what is said
of the Lord, and by the Lord, under the character
of human feelings, in other parts of the Old Tes-
tament, I cannot but conclude that the whole is
abundantly confirmed, that it is the Lord Jesus,
and him only, in his mediatorial character, who is
all along to be understood as the visible Jehovah.
Thus it is said, that " his soul was grieved for the
misery of Israel." (Judges x. 16.) A beautiful
and most interesting portrait of Jesus if beheld as
picturing him, but inexplicable in any other point
of view. So again the Lord is represented
as saying : " I will rejoice over my people
to do them good ; and I will plant them in
this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with
my whole soul." (Jer. xxxii. 41.) Here again,
supposing it is Jesus-Mediator which thus speaks,
nothing can be more plain and nothing more
blessed, for we know that his whole heart and soul
is his people's ; but concerning the Lord Jehovah,
in his threefold character of person, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, we dare not, because we are not
authorized in any part of Scripture thus to speak of
him as possessing parts or passions. He is, as the
Holy Ghost himself by the apostle describes him,
"the king eternal, immortal, invisible." (1 Tim. i. 17.)
664
PE
Hence, when the read in the word of God that the
eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his
ears open to their prayers, and that he openeth his
hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing,
these expressions are literally true, as well as
blessedly refreshing, considered as spoken of Him
in whom it hath pleased the Father that u all ful-
ness should dwell," and who is the Head of all
principality and power ; but cannot be said of
Jehovah in his absolute nature and Godhead,
u dwelling in the light which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen or can see." (1 Tim.
vi. 16.)
I shall find cause to bless God if these observa-
tions on Peniel, and the thoughts arising out of the
same, be directed of the Lord to throw the least light
on a subject so highly interesting, and enable any
precious lover of Jesus to form clearer views of
him, whom truly to know is life eternal. (John xvii.
2, 3.) Surely nothing can be more blessed than
to discover Jesus thus refreshing Old Testament
saints with such precious manifestations of himself,
as if to shew what love he had to his church and
people, and how much he longed for the time
appointed when he would openly manifest himself
as our glorious Head, and Surety, and Saviour.
Precious Jesus ! methinks I would say for myself
and reader, grant many Peniel visits to thy redeem-
ed now, and make all the manifestations of the full
Godhead in glory to thy redeemed in heaven ten-
fold more sweet and blessed, by the communi-
cations in thee, and through thee, to flow in upon
the souls of thy whole church in eternal happiness
for ever. Amen.
PENINNAH. The second wife of Elkanah. (1 Sam.
i. 2.) Her name signifies, precious stone, or jewel,
from Paninim.
P E
665
PENTECOST. The day of Pentecost was so first
called after our Lord's ascension. Before that
period the church called it " the feast of weeks,"
(Exod. xxxiv. 22.) and it was one of those three
great feasts in which all the males were required to
appear before the Lord. The word Pentecost
means the fiftieth, being- fifty days from the Pass-
over. The feast itself was appointed perhaps with
a double view ; first, to commemorate the giving
of the law on mount Sinai, which was on the fiftieth
day after the children of Israel had left Egypt ;
and, secondly, and for which it was enjoined as a
feast, to testify that Israel's Lord was the rightful
owner of all Israel's property, and they as tenants
holding those possessions during the pleasure oftheir
almighty landlord, and thus they were called upon
cheerfully to pay their high rent in offering to him
the first fruits of all their increase.
This festival in the ancient church was very
highly celebrated, as we may plainly perceive from
the multitude that came from all parts, to trade on
those occasions, on the day of Pentecost, as we
read in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. ii. How
far religious duties occupied the minds of the chil-
dren of Israel, in those dark ages, is not very easy
to determine.
The modern Jews of the present hour, holding
by tradition the festival as chiefly referring to the
giving of the law on mount Sinai, of which they are
very tenacious, and not knowing that it is the mi-
nistration of condemnation, they celebrate this fes-
tival for two days with great attention. They
adorn both the synagogue and their own houses
with flowers, and make it altogether a time of fes-
tivity. In the religious parts of their services on
those occasions, it is said that they read in the
Scriptures of Moses what relates to the feast of
686
PE
weeks, and conclude their ceremonies in mutual
good wishes for the prosperity of each other and
their nation.
What a vast superiority hath the true believer
in Jesus in celebrating our Pentecost ! This blessed
festival in the church of Christ is wholly spiritual.
Contemplating- the first open descent of God the
Holy Ghost as the first fruits of the Lord Jesus's
gifts to his people in his return to glory, when he
had finished redemption-work upon earth, we are
taught to hail the coming of the Holy Ghost as
the most blessed of all evidences concerning the
truth as it is in Jesus. And when the soul of a real
believer in Christ is truly regenerated, and ena-
bled by divine teaching to enter into a real heart-
felt enjoyment of what is contained in the doctrine
of the descent of God the Holy Ghost upon the
church, then this only festival becomes to every
individual believer a renewed Pentecost indeed.
As the proper apprehension of this subject
is truly interesting, I shall beg permission from
the reader to dwell yet somewhat more particularly
upon it.
If we attend to what the word of God hath gra-
ciously revealed in reference to the sacred pur-
poses of Jehovah in redemption, we may discover
that as all the three divine persons of the God-
head have been and are engaged in the accom-
plishment of the work, so the Scriptures point out
the special office of each. In the Old Testament
we find God the Father proclaiming to the church
the coming of his dear Son. In the New Testa-
ment we have that promise realized, and God the
Son accomplishing the whole purposes of salva-
tion. And after his ascension and return to glory
we have the visible manifestation of God the Holv
Ghost on the day of Pentecost, to carry on and
667
render effectual the great purposes of redemption
in the hearts of the .people by his almighty grace
and power. So that there is a beautiful order in
the design and execution of the work itself,
as well as grace and mercy in the dispensation.
The day of Pentecost therefore opens with the
manifestation of the Holy Ghost in his sevenfold
gifts and graces. Hitherto the kingdom of grace
had been supplied with the occasional effusions of
the Spirit on the church, as the sacred purposes of
Jehovah's will required. " The Holy Ghost, it is
said, was not yet given, because that Jesus was not
yet glorified." (John vii. 39.) But now that the
Son of God hath finished the whole of his ministry
upon earth, and is returned to glory, the Holy
Ghost comes down in a fulness of blessings, and
to him is committed the whole efficiency of the
work, as the Almighty Minister in the church, to
render the whole effectual ; and to this agree the
words of the prophets : Isa. xliv. 3 — 5. Joel ii.
28, &c. Acts ii. 14—34.
I beg to add one observation more on this view
of our Christian Pentecost, namely, what a confir-
mation it gives to all the interesting doctrines of
our most holy faith. The promise of God the Fa-
ther in the Old Testament, and the promise of God
the Son in the New Testament, both taught the
church to be on the look-out for the coming of the
Holy Ghost. And as the glorious period drew
nigh when this Almighty Spirit would come and
dwell in the hearts of his redeemed, the promises
concerning him became more clear and pointed.
The Lord Jesus, in his farewell sermou, when in-
stituting his holy Supper as the standing memorial
of his death, most particularly described his person,
character, and offices. (See John chap. xiv. xv.
and xvi.) And again, in the very moment of his
668
departure, he reminded his disciples of the near
approach of this blessed guest. " Behold (said
Jesus) I send the promise of my Father upon you ;
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be
endued with power from on high." (Luke xxiv.
49.) And still farther he added at the same part-
ing interview, u John (said Jesus) truly baptized
with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence." (Acts i. 5.) And
agreeably to this promise, the Holy Ghost actually
came down ten days after, on the day of Pente-
cost when those events took place which are re-
corded in the second chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles.
Now from hence the following just and evident
conclusion is unavoidable, and must follow: If
Christ had not been God, how could he have had
power and authority to have sent the Holy Ghost ?
If Christ had not completed salvation, and finished
the work the Father gave him to do, how would his
promise have been fulfilled in the gift of the
Spirit ? If Christ had not ascended, how would
the Holy Ghost have descended in exact confor-
mity to what he had said ? Can any thing upon
earth be more palpable and plain in confimation
of all the great truths of our holy faith, that when
the Holy Ghost came down, Jesus was gone up,
and God the Father confirmed the perfect appro-
bation he had several times from heaven by a voice
given of his dear Son, that he was well pleased in
him, by sending down, according to Christ's promise,
the Holy Ghost ? The Lord Jesus had told his
disciples before his departure, that it was expe-
dient for them he should go away. u For (said
Jesus) if I go not away, the Comforter will not come;
but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John
xvi. 7.) He did depart, and the Holy Ghost came.
669
What an evidence to all the other glorious testi-
monies of his mission ! And I must contend for it,
as for one of the plainest matters of fact the world
was ever called to judge upon, that in the descent
of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost,
we have as palpable a seal to the truth of
the gospel as we have to any one of the most com-
mon events in the circumstances of human life ;
yea, the subject will warrant my going farther, and
to say, that in the heart of every individual sin-
ner whom " the Lord hath made willing in the day
of his power,'1 that soul is a living ev idence of the
descent of the Holy Ghost. And surely it is by
these evidences now, in the present awful day of
infidelity, and a Christ-despising generation, the
Lord is bringing forth proofs to the doctrine of
his dear Son. The Lord speaks in every one
of them in terms similar to the words by the
prophet ; u Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen." (Isa.
xliii. 10.)
I have greatly swollen this article beyond my
first intention, yet 1 cannot take leave of it without
adding a short observation, just to remark how
needful it must be in every follower of the ever-
blessed Jesus to examine in his own heart for the
evidence of his Pentecost mercy, whether that holy
Spirit hath witnessed in his spirit to " the truth as
it is in Jesus ?" Blessed is the man that can testify
to the Spirit's work in his own heart in all the offices,
characters, and gifts of God the Holy Ghost. When
we know him as Jesus described him, the Spirit of
truth to guide into all truth; the Witness to our
spirits that we are the children of God ; the
Glorifier of Jesus ; the Comforter of the soul; the
Spirit of grace, of supplication, and prayer ; the
Helper of our infirmities; the Spirit of wisdom
G70
and knowledge in the revelation of Christ Jesus : in
a word, the great and sovereign minister in the
church and heart of all his people, from the first
quickenings of grace, until grace be consummated
in eternal glory. Oh, for the blessed earnest of
the Holy Ghost thus to testify to his own impres-
sions on the soul, whereby believers are u sealed
unto the day of redemption !" (Eph. iv. 30.)
PENUEL. This is the same word as Peniel, which
see. There are two persons of this name in Scrip-
ture, namely, the son of Hur, (1 Chron. iv. 4.) and
Penuel, the son of Shashak, (1 Chron. viii. 25.)
PEOPLE. This, though a word of general import as
referring to nations, or the persons of particular
kingdoms, yet in respect to the Lord's people, hath
a special designation. The redeemed of Christ are
called a peculiar people, (1 Pet. ii. 9.) — a " people
that dwell alone, and are not reckoned among the
nations." (Num. xxiii. 9.) Hence God the Father,
speaking of them to his dear Son, saith, " Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power." (Ps. ex.)
And elsewhere the Lord saith, " Thou art an holy
people to the Lord thy God : the Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto him-
self, above all people that are upon the face of the
earth." (Deut. vii. 6.) And it is wonderful to observe
how distinguishing the grace of God is manifested
towards them. They are given of the Father to the
Son, and set apart in the counsel and purpose of
God from all eternity ; they are the object of Jesus's
love before all worlds ; and they are brought under
the anointings of God the Holy Ghost, with pecu-
liar marks of his love during the whole of their
eventful pilgrimage-state, from the first dawnings
of grace unto the fulness of glory. Such are the
characters of the redeemed of the Lord. u Oh !
671
bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his
praise to be heard." (Ps. lxvi. 8.)
PEOR. The word means opening, from Pahar. See
Baal-peor.
PERGAMOS. One, of the seven churches in Asia,
The account we have, Rev. ii. 12 — 17.
PERIZZITES. The word is derived from Peras, or
Pherazoth. Such as dwell in villages : or perhaps,
as villages are scattered buildings different from
cities, the Perizzites might mean the scattered ene-
mies of Israel, whom the Lord would drive out
before them. (Exod. xxxiii. 2.)
PERSIA. A kingdom in Asia. This was the king-
dom, in the government of the world, which suc-
ceeded the Babylonish, when Cyrus, king of Persia^
had destroyed the Chaldean powers. (See Isaiah
xlv. and Daniel v. 30, 31.)
PETER. The apostle. We have a very circum-
stantial account of this man in the New Testament,
so that it supersedes the necessity of any observa-
tions here. His name was altered to Cephas, a
Syriac word for rock. We must not however totally
pass by our improvements on the apostle's life and
character, though we do not think it necessary to
go over the history of this great man. Certainly the
Holy Ghost intended that the very interesting
particulars in the life of Peter should have their due
operation in the church through all ages ; and it
must be both the duty and the privilege of the faith-
ful to follow up the will of God the Spirit in this
particular, and to regard the striking features which
mark his character. As a faithful servant of Jesus
how very eminent Peter stands forth to observa.
tion ; for who among the apostles so zealous, so
attached to his Lord, as Peter ? And that such an
one should fall from his integrity, even to the denial
of his Lord, what caution doth it teach to the
G72
highest servants of Jesus ! But when we have paid
all due attention to those striking- particularities in
the life of Peter, the most blessed and most im-
portant instruction the life of this apostle exhibits,
is in the display of that sovereign grace of Jesus
manifested in Peter's recovery. Oh, how blessedly
hath the Holy Ghost taught, in this man's instance,
the vast superiority of God's grace over man's un-
deservings ! However great our unworthiness, the
Lord's mercies are greater. Divine love rheth
above the highest tide of human transgression.
" Where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more
abound ; that as sin hath reigned unto death, so
might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. v. 21.)
I cannot close my observations on the character
of Peter without first expressing my surprize that
the apostle did not adopt the name of Cephas from
the first moment Jesus called him so. (John i. 42.)
Paul indeed did call Peter by this name, Gal. ii. 9 ;
but it doth not seem to have been in general use
among the brethren. And yet we find, in the in-
stance of Abraham and Jacob, the Lord when he
changed their names seemed to express his
pleasure in calling them by those names. I would
ask, is not this change of name among the Lord's
people now a part of their high calling and charac-
ter? Did not the Lord so promise the church when
he said, " And thou shalt be called by a new name,
which the mouth of the Lord shall name ?" (Isa.
Ixii. 2.) And did not Jesus confirm this when he
said, " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God ; and I will write upon
him ray new name." (Rev. iii. 12.) Reader, is not
this done now as much as in the instance of Old
Testament saints, and New Testament believers in
the ages past? Let us cherish the thought.
PH
673
PETHAHIAH. He was the head of a family.
(1 Chron. xxiv. 16.) His name means gate of the
Lord, from Pathac, gate — and Jab, Lord.
PETHOR. The city of Baalam. (Num. xxii. 5.)
PETHUEL. The father of the prophet Joel. His
name signifies mouth of God, from Path, mouth —
and El, God ; or if from Path ah, to persuade, it will
be persuasion of God.
PEULTHA1. One of the Levites, (1 Chron. xxvi. 5.)
from Pahal, work — and the pronoun I, my work.
PHALLU. Son of Reuben. (Gen. xlvi. 9.) From
Phala, to hide.
PHALTI. Son of Laish, (1 Sam. xxv. 44.) husband
of Michal, Saul's daughter. From Palat, flight.
PHANUEL. Of the tribe of Asher. This man's name
is rendered memorable in being the father of Anna.
(See Luke ii. 36.) His name is derived from Pana,
to see — and El, God.
PHARAOH. King of Egypt. It should seem that
Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of
Egypt, since we find that both he that knew Joseph,
and he that knew him not, were both called
Pharaoh. Indeed we find a Pharaoh in the days of
Abraham. (Gen. xii. 10 — 15.) The name of
Pharaoh implies a destroyer, derived from Parah.
But some have thought that the name is a title,
and not unsimilar to those used in modern times of
royal, and highness, and the like. But it is of
little importance what the name meant, or how
used. The Pharaoh, the tyrant of Egypt, we know
most of in Scripture, was a type of the devil ; and
as such the Lord's people should read his history,
with the Lord's striking observation upon him.
(Exod. ix. 16.)
PHAREZ. Son of Judah, by Tamar, (Gen.
xxxviii. 29.) The word is translated in the margin
of the Bible a breach. The same word as David
vol. vi. 2 x
674
PH
afterwards used from the breach made at Uzzah's
touching- the ark. (2 Sam. vi. 8.)
PHARISEE. A sect in the days of our Lord, remark-
able for their scrupulous exactness to cerlain
points, while relaxed in the higher principles of
real vital godliness. The name Pharisee is derived
from a root signifying separation, and suited to
them, from their being very singular in their order.
For the character of the Pharisee I refer to Matt,
xxiii. throughout. The modern Pharisee of the
present hour is he that prides himself upon the
rectitude of his own heart, and ventures his ever-
lasting- welfare upon the merit of his g-ood works
before God ; or, in a less degree, takes to himself
the consolation of being part his own Saviour, and
hoping that Christ will make up the deficiency.
The portrait of such an one we have, Luke xviii.
9—14.
PHARKAR. A river of Damascus, rendered memo-
rable from the circumstance of Naaman's leprosy.
(2 Kings v. 12.)
PHEBE. A pious woman noticed by Paul. (Rom.
xvi. 1.)
PHENICE. A place where the apostle Paul anchor-
ed. (Acts xxvii. 12.)
PHICOL. Captain of Abimelech's army. (Gen.xxi. 22.)
His name, it should seem, is taken from Pe, a mouth ;
and Calah, to complete.
PHILADELPHIA. One ofthe seven churches. (Rev.
iii. 7.) The name is taken from the Greek, and is
compounded of Philo, to love ; and Adelphos, a
brother.
PHILEMON. The master of Onesimus. See Epistle
to Philemon. See Onesimus.
PHILETUS. One that erred from the faith. (2 Tim.
ii. 17, 18.)
PHILIP. The apostle. (See John i. 43, 44.) There
PH G75
was also a Philip who was one of the seven dea-
cons. (Acts vi. 5.)
PHTLIPPI. A city of Macedon, rendered memorable
from Paul the apostle having preached the gospel
to the people there by the direction of a vision,
and having sent that blessed Epistle there which
we have still preserved in the New Testament, and
made so truly blessed to the church. See the
Epistle to the Philippians.
PHILISTINES. A race well known to the church ;
the sworn foes to God and his people. The name is
not derived from the Hebrew, but is a common
name for dwellers in villages.
PHILOSOPHY. The meaning of the word is a lover
of wisdom, but most wretchedly applied, when
spoken of in reference to the wisdom of this world.
See proofs of it, Rom. i. 21, &c.
PHINEHAS. Son of Eleazar the priest. He was the
third high priest from the first order of the priest,
hood. Aaron, Eleazar and Phinehas. The name
seems to have been derived Panah, to shine. See
an honorable testimony given by the Lord himself
to this man. (Num. xxv. 6 — 13.) There was another
Phinehas in Scripture, but of a very different
character, namely, Phineas the son of Eli. (See
1 Sam.ii. 27. to the end.)
PHLEGON. A friend of the apostle Paul. (Rom. xvi.
14.) His name is taken from a Greek word signifying
burning,
PHURAH. The steward of Gideon, (Judg. vii. 10,11.)
derived from Parah, to bear.
PHUT. One of the sons of Ham, (Gen. x. 6.) The
word means fat.
PHYGELLUS. Paul complains of this man. (2 Tim-
i. 15.) The word is derived from the Greek, and
means a fugitive.
PHYLACTERIES. We meet with this word but
2x2
676
once in the whole Bible, namely, Matt, xxiii. 5.
Our blessed Lord condemned the Jews for making
broad their phylacteries. It should seem that the
Jews had a superstition, that by wearing certain
amulets or borders with words of Scripture upon
them, they would act like so many charms, and
preserve them from danger. The word phylac-
teries, which is derived from the Greek, means to
preserve. The Jews, it is said by some, justified
this from what was commanded in Scripture. u And
it shall be for a sign unto thee, upon thine head, and
for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's
law may be in their mouth." (Exod xxxiii. 3.) But
had the Jews observed the pure sense of this
precept, it was their wonderful deliverance from
Egypt that was to be the memorial, and not the
preservation from future dangers to which this
command had respect. It should rather seem, there-
fore, that that natural proneness the children of
Israel had to imitate their idolatrous neighbours,
tempted them to do as the heathen did, whose
superstition is well known to have been of this kind ;
though Israel in the midst of their using charms
like them, still had respect to words of Scripture.
That this was the case, seems highly probable, in
that the Lord Jesus reproved them for it. See
Frontlets.
PIHAHIROTH. The memorable spot where the
Lord displayed his grace to Israel. (Exod. xiv. 2.)
The word is compounded of Pe, mouth, Kirath, a no-
ramen or opening. And it was the opening of the
Red Sea. At this place the Egyptians had a
migdol or tower, and one of their dunghill gods,
called Baal-Zephon, had a temple here, as if to
watch that no runaway servant or slave might es-
cape from Egypt ; at least, it was intended to act
as a bugbear to deliver the fugitive. What a con-
G77
tempt did the Lord throw upon the idols of Egypt,
in making- this the memorable spot to deliver Israel.
See Baal-Zephon.
PILATE. A name of everlasting- infamy, well known
to every reader of the Bible, and as universally
detested as known. So unjust in his judgment,
while acting as the Governor of Judea, that in the
very moment hepronounced sentence of death upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, he solemnly declared his
innocency ; and in confirmation of oar Lord's holi-
ness and his own guilt, took water and washed his
hands before the people in token of the deed. He
was Governor of Judea, under the Emperor Tibe-
rius. His name was Pontius as well as Pilate,
perhaps, he might be of Pontus. With what hor-
rors will he arise at the tremendous day of God,
when every eye must see Jesus, and they also that
pierced him ! when that sacred head he crowned
with thorns will appear in the fulness of glory, and
before whose presence heaven and earth will pildash
flee away ! (Rev. i. 7.)
PILDASH. Son of Nahor and Milcah, (Gen. xxiii.
22.) If from Palah, ruin, it should seem that the
name means somewhat ruinous.
PILEHA. One of the chief priests in the days of
Nehemiah, (See Neh. x. 24.) The name is proba-
bly from Palach, to divide.
PILLAR. The pillar of cloud, and the pillar of fire
in the wilderness, which went before and followed
Israel, were among the symbols of the divine pre-
sence. 1 do not presume to say as much, or to
decide upon a subject of such infinite importance ;
but, when we take into one mass of particulars,
all that we read of the Lord Jesus Christ in those
early ages of the church, methinks I cannot hesi-
tate to believe, that it was Christ that they went
before, and that thus surrounded his people during-
678
their whole eventful history. Jacob at Bethel,
and Moses at the bush, had real views of Jehovah's
glory and fulness in Christ. The manifestation
made on both occasions as the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, plainly shows that the covenant
of redemption, in the seed of the woman, was the
great and leading cause of all. And as the Holy
Ghost hath graciously been pleased in so many
words to tell the church, that the Rock which fol-
lowed Israel was Christ ; (1 Cor. x. 4.) it should
seem as if this was intended by the blessed Spirit,
to act as a key for opening similar manifestation to
the church in those other tokens of divine love,
which appear in their wonderful history. Nothing
can be more blessed in confirmation of the Re-
deemer's love to his church and people, than thus
beholding him in the " pillar of cloud by day, and
the pillar of fire by night," conducting and guard-
ing them through all their journey. And as then,
so now, every manifestation, under all the various
forms of it, was intended to show the church the
love he bore to them, and to lead his people into
the most endearing views of his love and good
will. And hence, the sacred writers, through the
several parts of sacred Scriptures, keep up the re-
membrance of those manifestations in the wilder-
ness, as so many proofs of the Lord's presence with
his people. We are told that u when Moses went
out unto the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and
stood every man at his tent door, and looked after
Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And
it came to pass, as Moses entered into the taber-
nacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the
door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with
Moses." (Exod. xxxiii.8, 9.) So again the Psalmist
saith, that " he spake unto them in the cloudy
pillar." (Ps. xcix. 7.) Who was it spake unto them
679
but God in Christ ? Surely all that vvc hear from
God is received in him, and by him, and through
him, who is the only Mediator, the Glory-man
Christ Jesus. For the Holy Ghost, by John the
apostle, tells the church that no man hath seen God
at anytime ; but he graciously adds, that " the only-
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him." (John i. 18.) And what
then can be more plain and evident in proof that
Christ is the visible Jehovah, and by whom alone
all revelations are made ? I need not add what
endearing representations all those things made of
his person and his love to his church, when taken
into one mass of particulars, which we read of
Christ under such a vast variety of manifestations
which he hath made of himself.
The word pillar is sometimes used in the lan-
guage of Scripture to denote the church of the
Lord Jesus. Thus the Holy Ghost, by Paul, calls
the church " the pillar and ground of truth." (1 Tim.
iii. 15.) And it is not a violence to the expres-
sion to consider this as in allusion to her Lord, who
is the Head of his body the church. For if Jesus
Le the pillar of cloud, and the pillar of fire ; and if,
as it is said, u the Lord will create upon every
dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her as-
semblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shin-
ing of a flaming fire by night," (Isa. iv. 5.) — sure-
ly there is a great propriety that his church should
be called after the name of her Lord. He is the
pillar of cloud and of fire ; and she by him is made
the pillar and ground of truth ; and hence his ser-
vants who minister in his name shall be called pil-
lars in his temple. " Him that overcometh, saith
Jesus, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God."
(Rev. iii. 11. See Prov. ix. 1.) Hence the Lord
saith to Jeremiah, (chap. i. 18.) "Behold, I havo
680
made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron
pillar." (See Gal. ii. 9.) And very blessed it is to
see, that while Christ is the foundation stone Jeho-
vah hath laid in Zion, all his redeemed ones are
built upon this foundation, and are lively stones and
pillars in this spiritual house, u to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ."
(1 Pet. ii. 5.)
PINE TREE. This tree is spoken of in Scripture
by the Lord himself, as one of the trees which the
Lord would take to beautify his sanctuary, (Isa. lx.
13.) No doubt, it is figuratively spoken in allu-
sion to believers. See Cedar Tree.
PINNACLE OF THE TEMPLE. We are told that
here it was, on the pinnacle of the temple, the
devil, in his temptations of Christ, set the Re-
deemer. (Matt. iv. 5.) An ordinary reader might
herefrom be led to conclude, that if the pinnacle of
the temple was like the present towers of our
churches, it was hardly possible to have stood upon
them. But he should be told that the pinnacles
were on square roofs, like terrace walks, with gal-
leries, so that they formed a platform to walk upon.
One of the Jewish historians relates, that the roof
of the temple had spikes of gold on it, to hinder
the birds from resting there, that they might not
defile it. The pinnacle of the temple, therefore,
though high and elevated, yet formed a sufficient
spot for walking upon. Probably here, like the
galleries the church speaks of, persons retired for
conversation. See Gallery and Galleries.
PIRAM. King of Jarmuth. One of the Kings de-
stroyed by Joshua. (Josh. x. 3, &c.) If the name is
derived from Para, it means the wild ass. Am is
mother.
PIRATHON. A city of Ephraim : hence the inha-
6S1
bitants were called Pirathonites. (Judg. xii. 13.)
From Parah.
P1SGAH. A mountain over against Jericho. Tins
place is rendered memorable from Moses. fDeut.
xxxiv. 1.) The name means hill or mountain, from
Pasag.
PISIDIA. A province in Asia. Here Paul preached
the gospel. (See Acts xiii. 14.) The word is Greek,
meaning pitch.
PISON. One of the four great rivers which watered
Eden. (Gen. ii. 11.) Compounded of Pe, mouth,
and Shanah, to change. — A river changing.
PITHOM. One of the cities which the children of
Israel built for Pharaoh during their captivity in
Egypt. Perhaps the name is derived from Pe, the
mouth — and Sham, which signifies to finish ; — but
there is no authority for it. A much more import-
ant consideration is it to remark the diligence of
Israel in their captivity, thus building houses for
their masters. Though the Egyptians oppressed
them, and made their lives bitter by reason of the
task-masters set over them, ye we do not find that
the poor captives gave over their duty because of
their enemies' cruelty. The Holy Ghost compels the
foes of the church thus to give testimony, however
unwillingly, to the dutiful and honourable deport-
ment of the people, u And they built for Pharaoh
treasure cities, Pithom and Ramases. But the more
they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and
grew. And they were grieved because of the chil-
dren of Israel." (Exod. i. 11, 12.) I beg the
reader to observe how every thing turned out the
reverse of their tyrants' intention. Egypt wished
to lesson Israel by cruelty : Israel thrived and mul-
tiplied the more. Egypt intended to make their
lives bitter to them ; whereas the bitterness recoil-
ed on themselves. Thus the Lord carries on the
682
gracious purposes of his government in the minds
of men in all ages ! We have another striking
testimony of a like kind to the good conduct of the
Lord's people upon a similar occasion, when the
people were again brought into bondage. I mean
when Jobin, king of Canaan, ruled with an iron
rod over Israel. (See Judg, chap. iv. and v.) The
mother of Sisera gave this unintentional testimony
to the good housewifery of our mothers in Israel,
when, looking out at a window to watch for the
coming of her son in triumph, she cried out, " Have
they not divided the prey ; to every man a damsel
or two ; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey
of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours
of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks
of them that take the spoil ?" (Judg. v. 30.) Here
we see that the daughters of Israel, as their fathers
before them, ate not the bread of idleness, for their
divers colours of needlework manifested their in-
dustry. But what an awful character must this
mother of Sisera have been, to take pleasure in the
lusts of her son ! Forgetting the chastity of her sex,
she seemed to rest in the very thought that the
daughters of Israel would serve for the savage
sports of her son and his army, and a damsel or
two fall to the lot of every man. We see here, in
striking features, a mind indeed ripe for hell. We
behold sin become so exceedingly sinful, that the
sinner enjoys in idea what in reality he doth not
partake of. This is the state which the apostle
Paul describes of sinners, "who knowing the judg-
ment of God, that they who commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but
take pleasure in them that do them," (Rom. i. 32.)
The imagination can form no picture out of hell of
equal malignity of mind. Such are full ripe for
hell ; the next step brings them into it. They are
683
like a vessel brim full, one drop more, and they
sink to the bottom.
PLAGUES OF EGYPT. It may not be unaccept-
able to the readers of this work to have brought
before them in one short view the account of the
plagues of Egypt, in order to take into a compre-
hensive manner the judgment of God over the
Egyptians,while manifesting grace to his Israel.
There were ten different sorts of plagues which
the Lord brought upon Egypt, all succeeding one
another, with only the intermission of a few days ;
and each rising in succession with more tremendous
judgments, until in the last of them the Egyptians
began to discover that if the Lord persisted in the
infliction, all Egy pt was destroyed.
The first was that of turning the waters of their
famous river the Nile into blood. It is worthy
remark that the first miracle wrought by Moses
was this of turning water into blood ; but the first
miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ was that of turn-
ing water into wine. (John ii. 11.) And was it
not in both instances figurative of the different dis-
pensations of the law and the gospel ? Every thing
under the law, like the full flowing streams of the
Nile turned into blood, is made a source of con-
demnation : it is called indeed the ministration of
death, (2 Cor. iii. 7.) Every thing under the gospel
brings with it fife and liberty. Jesus puts a bless-
ing into our most common comforts, and the whole
is sanctified.
The second plague of Egypt was that of the frogs.
(Exod. viii. 1, 14.) There was somewhat particu-
larly striking in this progression of Egypt's tor-
ments. The first was remote and distant, confined
to the rivers and water ; but this second is brought
nearer home, and comes near their persons, in their
houses, and their chamber "Their land, (saith
684
P L
the Psalmist,) brought forth frogs in abundance in
the chambers of their kings." (Ps. cv. 30.) When
one affliction loseth its effect, a second and a greater
shall follow. If distant corrections are not heard,
the stro e shall be both seen and felt within our
houses. This progressive punishment of the Lord,
even upon his own people, is set forth in the most
finished representation. (See Lev. xxvi. 3. to the
end.)
In the third plague, that of lice, the punishment
is heightened. Now the Lord is come home indeed
by his afflictions on the person of the Egyptians.
Before, the judgment was confined to the river and
to the land ; but here the Lord made a marked dis-
tinction from the former, so as to compel the ma-
gicians of Egypt to acknowledge in it the finger of
God. (SeeExod. viii. 16— 19.)
The plague of flies was the fourth judgment with
which the Lord smote Egypt. And here I beg the
reader to remark how every visitation became more
and more distressing, rising, as it did, in circum-
stances heightened with misery. The plague of
lice was great, but this of flies abundantly more.
Even in our own climate, in hot summer-seasons,
when passing through narrow lanes and hedges in
the country not much frequented, where insects of
the winged kind increase unmolested, the horse and
his rider sometimes feel their sting, and are almost
made mad. But in hot countries the swarms of
those creatures are at times destructive indeed.
And what must the plague of flies in Egypt have
been when purposely armed and sent by the Lord.
We may form some conjecture of the dreadful effect
that this plague wrought on Pharaoh and his people,
for he called for Moses, and in his fright consented to
the Israelites' departure. I beg the reader to con-
sult the account of this plague, as recorded in
685
Scripture. (Exod. viii. 20. to the end.) And I beg
him also to observe how the Lord, concerning' this
plague, called upon both the Egyptians and the
Israelites to observe the tokens of his discriminating
grace over his people ; for we are told that the
Lord marked the land of Goshen, where Israel
dwelt, that no swarm of flies should be there. Let
the reader pause over this account ; and let him
say, what must Israel have felt in this marked dis- .
tinction. Oh, what an evident token of the Lord's
love ! And is it not so now, and hath been through
all ages of the church ? Yea, are we not told that
thus we are " to return, and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not ?" (Mai. iii. 18.)
1 beg the reader to turn to the article Flies for a
farther illustration of this subject.
The fifth plague of Egypt, rising still in terror,
was that of the pestilence and mortality among all
the cattle of the Egyptians ; in which, as a conti-
nuance of the same discrimination as had been
shewn before in the plague of the flies, while all the
cattle of Egypt died, there was not one of the cattle
ofthe Israelites dead. (See Exod. ix. 1 — 7.) Beside
the very tremendous judgment on Egypt as a nation
by this plague, we may remark somewhat leading
to the gospel dispensation in this appointment.
" The whole creation (we are told) groaneth and
travaileth in pain together." (Rom. viii. 22.) The
earth bore part in the curse for man's disobedience;
hence therefore in man's redemption, of which the
bringing Israel out of Egyptian bondage is a type,
the inferior creatures are made to bear part in
punishment. It is more than probable also, that
some among the cattle that were destroyed were
included in the idols of Egypt ; for certain it is,
that from the Egyptians the Israelites learnt the
C8G
worship of the calf, which afterwards they set up
in the wilderness. (See Exod. xxxii. 1 — 6.) What
contempt, therefore, by the destruction of cattle,
was thrown upon the idols of Egypt !
In the view of the sixth plague of Egypt, u the
boils breaking forth with blains upon man and
upon beast," we behold the hand of the Lord fall-
ing heavier than ever. The persons of Pharaoh
and his people in those boils and ulcers were most
dreadfully beset. It should seem to have been not
only one universal epidemic malady, but a malady
hitherto unknown — bodies covered with running
sores. When Moses afterwards in the wilderness
was admonishing Israel to be cautious of offending
the Lord, and threatening punishment to their re-
bellion, he adverts to those boils as among the
most dreadful of divine visitations. u The Lord
will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with
the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch,
whereof thou canst not be healed." (Deut. xxviii. 27.)
The imagination cannot form to itself, in bodily
afflictions, any thing more grievous ; and when to
the sore of body, the corroding ulcer of soul
is joined, and both beheld as coming from the
Lord, surely nothing this side hell can be wanting
to give the most finished state of misery ! (See
Exod. ix. 8 — 12.) And if the reader will read
also Moses's account of a corrosive mind, he will
behold the awful state of having God for our
enemy. (Deut. xxviii. 15. to the end.)
The seventh plague of Egypt was the "thun-
der, lightning, rain, and hail." (Exod. ix. 13, to
the end.) This tremendous storm was ushered in
with a solemn message from the Lord to Pharaoh,
that there should be a succession of plagues until
that the Lord had cut him off from the face of the
earth ; and that the Lord had indeed raised him
687
up for this very purpose, to shew in him the Lord's
power, and that the Lord's name should be de-
clared throughout all the earth. But what I par-
ticularly beg- the reader to remark in those plagues
of Egypt is, the progressive order from bad to
worse, leading on to the most finished and full
state of misery.
In this plague we mark also distinguishing grace
to some of the servants of Pharaoh. We are told
that they, among them that feared the word of the
Lord, called home their servants and their cattle
to places of shelter before the storm came. And
as when Israel went up afterwards with an high
hand out of Egypt, a mixed multitude went with
them, were not these such as grace had marked
for the Lord's own ? May we not consider them
as types of the Gentile church given to the Lord
Jesus, as well as the Jewish church? (Isa. xlix. 6.)
The eighth plague is introduced by the Lord
with bidding Moses, the man of God, to remark
to Israel that the Lord had hardened the heart of
Pharaoh purposely, that he might set forth his
love to Israel in shewing these signs and wonders
before them. The Lord delights in distinguishing
grace, and the Lord delights that his people should
know the proofs of it also. u That thou mayest
tell it, (saith the Lord) in the ears of thy son, and
of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in
Egypt, and my signs which I have done among
them, that ye may know how that I am the Lord."
The plague of locusts succeeded that of thunder,
lightning, rain and hail. (Exod. x. i.) This was so
grievous that the very earth was covered with them,
and the whole land was darkened. (See Locusts.)
We read these transactions, and form an idea that the
suffering of the people must have been great : but
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all apprehension must fall short of what was the
reality of the evil. (See Exod. 1—20.)
The ninth plague was that of " darkness cover-
ing Egypt," while Goshen, the habitation of Israel,
had light. (Exod. x. 21.) And this both induration
and extent exceeds all that was ever heard of in
the history of the world. Three days it continued
in Egypt, so that they saw not one another, neither
did any arise from his place ; and to aggravate the
horrid gloom, it was a darkness which reached to
feeling also, though through mercy we know not
what that means. Such perhaps as the torments
of the damned. Every misery is increased, be it
what it may, when the hand of an angry God is
felt in it.
The tenth and last plague which the Lord in-
flicted upon Egypt, preparatory to Irsael's depar-
ture, was that of the destruction of the first-born
both of man and beast ; and so universal was it,
that it reached from the first-born of Pharaoh that
sat upon his throne, to the first-born of the maid
servant which ground at the mill. And to aggra-
vate this finishing stroke of misery, the Lord ap-
pointed it at midnight. The imagination can
hardly conceive with what horrors the Egyptians
arose to the death of their first-born when the
midnight cry was so great, because there was not
an house where there was not one dead. (Exod.
xii. 29, 30.) I must refer the reader to the sacred
Scriptures for the wonderful account of this tre-
mendous judgment, for it would too largely swell
the pages of this work, to enter into the relation
of it here. But I beg the reader, when he hath
read the Holy Scriptures on this subject, as con-
tained in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of
Exodus, to pause over the history, and to remark
with me whether there is not somewhat typical in
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the destruction of Egypt's first-born, and the sal-
vation of Israel. The lamb the Israelites were
commanded to have slain, and which was called by
the Lord himself the Lord's Passover, was typical
of Christ. The sprinkling- of the blood on their
houses was also typical, and the eating of it was
typical ; in short, the whole of this service, and
appointed in such a moment, while Egypt was
destroying, was wholly typical of Christ, and
Israel's alone salvation by him. And though in
our present twilight of knowledge our greatest re-
searches go but a little way, yet certain it is, the
destruction of Egypt, the hardening of Pharaoh's
heart, and the heart of his people, and the delivery
of Israel, all pointedly preached the same solemn
truth, as it is the whole tenor of revelation to de-
clare, that the distinguishing grace of God is the
sole cause wherefore Israel is saved and the Egyp-
tians destroyed. The apostle Paul, commenting
on this history, and taught by the Holy Ghost, hath
said all that can be said in confirmation of the
doctrine itself, and all that can be said by the most
unbelieving mind against it, in one of his chapters
to the Romans. But the issue of Paul's reason-
ing finisheth the subject in the most decided man-
ner, by referring the whole to the sovereignty and
good pleasure of God. I cannot better close the
subject on the history of the plagues of Egypt,
than by referring the reader to the apostle's divine
conclusions on the same, and very earnestly begging
the reader to go over, with suitable diligence and
attention, and with prayer to God the Holy Ghost
to bless him in the perusal, the ninth chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans.
PLANE TREE. The Hebrews were very partial to
trees ; and it is not to be wondered at, for those
trees which formed shades, by their long growing
vol. vi. 2 v
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and wid e spreading branches, must have beenhighly
grateful in sheltering them from the heat. The
plane tree is supposed to have been the chesnut
spoken of Gen. xxx. 37. The word Harmon, or
Ormon, is so rendered in that Scripture. We have
a lofty description of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
under the similitude of those elegant tress of the
forest. (Ezek. xxxi. 8.) But when the reader hath
pondered over these beauties of nature, I beg him
to observe how, in a yet far higher degree, the
Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of them in
setting forth the glories of grace, when describing
the Lord Jesus under the similitude of the wide
spreading branches of the trees of the wood, to
represent the shelter he affords to his people.
Hence the church sings of sitting under "his
shadow with great delight, and his fruit becoming
sweet to her taste." (Song ii. 3.) Hence the pro-
phet describes Jesus as " a strength to the poor, a
strength to the needy in distress, a refuge from the
storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of
the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."
(Isa. xxv. 4.) And in many other parts of Scrip-
ture the same figures are beautifully chosen by
way of representing the Lord Jesus as both a pro-
tecting power from every danger, and a source of
refreshment in all good. Jesus is all this, and
infinitely more ; for like the wide spreading
branches of some rich and fruitful tree of the desert,
he forms every thing that is lovely to our view, and
both shelters from the heat, and refresheth our
thirst by his fruit in this desert of our nature,
when from under his shadow u we revive as the
corn, and grow as the vine, and his scent is more
fragrant than the wine of Lebanon." (Hos. xiv. 7.)
PLAY. We should not have needed any attention to
this word, had the general acceptation of it in
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Scripture been similar to the received opinion of
it among men. By play we understand pastime,
or sport, or diversions ; but this is not always the
case in Scripture language. The word Zachach,
which is rendered play, means also to mock, or
insult, or fight. Thus we read, (2 Sam. ii. 14.)
" Abner said to Joab, let the young men now arise
and play before us." But the Scripture shews that
this play was fighting ; for we are told that u they
caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust
his sword into his fellow's side, so they fell down
together ; wherefore that place was called Helkath-
hazzarim " — which the margin of the Bible renders
the field of strong men." And there was a very
sore battle that day. So again we read, (Exod.
xxxii. 6.) that when the people had sat down to
eat and drink at their sacrifices, they rose up to
play. But the history itself, as well as the New
Testament explanation of it, (1 Cor. x. 7.) shews
that this play was the mockery of the Lord by
the grossest idolatry. Hence, therefore, it is ne-
cessary that in our reading Scripture, we should
have a right apprehension of the terms and words
made use of, that we may not confound things.
By play is not only meant an idle frivolity, and
"jesting and foolish talking," as the apostle speaks,
and which he condemns, (Eph. v. 4.) but some-
times, as we have seen, yet much worse. Indeed
play, and what the world calls amusements, even
of the least offensive kind, are unsuited to dying
creatures, and therefore ought not to be once
mentioned among Christians professing godliness.
The apostle's direction on these grounds is abso-
lute and unaccommodating ; and every truly rege-
nerated heart wishes to adopt the same, though
there had been no precept for it. (Eph. v. l^VJl.
2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.)
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PLEDGE. " Take his garment (saith the wise man)
that is surety for a stranger : and take a pledge of
him for a strange woman." (Prov. xx. 16.) This was
indeed done in the person of the strangers' best
and truest friend, when the Lord Jesus came from
his heavenly home to be a Surety for more than
strangers, yea, enemies to God by wicked works.
Nevertheless, in the common circumstances of human
life between man and man, the tender mercies of God
over Israel, commanded that they should be very
cautious how they took pledges and retained them.
The law of pledges seems to have been, that in
cases where the word or assurance of the borrower
might be doubted, some valuable article should be
left with the lender by way of assuring payment.
But it is really blessed to observe how tenderly
the Lord himself interposed, that usury and un-
kindness might not creep in among his people.
" No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone
to pledge, for he taketh a man's life to pledge."
(Deut. xxiv. 6.) By these the man grinds his daily
bread, and therefore he will starve if the imple-
ments for providing his food be taken from him.
And in a spiritual sense how much higher the ar-
gument runs ! Take not away the means and
ordinances of worship, by the use of which, under
the blessing of God, the bread of life is adminis-
tered to him.
So again : The Lord prohibited the lender from
entering the borrower's house to take his pledge.
(Deut. xxiv. 10.) Every man's house is his castle ;
to enter it therefore is a violation of all right, and
especially to enter it in order to oppress. And the
law of pledges went farther. If a poor man
through necessity had compelled him to pawn his
/garment, the law enjoined that the lender should
not sleep with his pledge. 8 In any case, saith the
Lord, thou shalt deliver him the pledge again
693
when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his
own raiment, and bless thee." And as an additional
motive to the exercise of this mercy, the Lord de-
clared that such regard to a poor brother the Lord
would consider as done to himself. " It shall be,
(said the Lord,) righteousness unto thee before
the Lord thy God." (Deut. xxiv. 10—13.) Precious
Jesus! I would say as I read those sweet Scrip-
tures of mercy, I have pledged to thee all I have,
and all I am ; and do I not see in this blessed com-
mand of thine thy gracious tenderness of heart to
give me all my justly forfeited pledges, that the sun
may not go down and I be found naked, but sleep
secure in thy garment of salvation, that my soul
may bless thee ! This is indeed the Lord's righ-
teousness, which is upon all, and unto all, that
believe. Oh, that the usurers of the present day
would read those Scriptures, and be no longer so,
but like Job, " drive not away the ass of the father-
less, and taken ot the widow's ox for pledge ! " (Job
xxiv. 3.)
PLEIADES. We find twice mention made in the
book of Job of the heavenly constellations. (Job
ix. 9. and xxxviii. 31.) The sacred writer enu-
merates but some of them, Arcturus, Orion, the
Pleiades, and Mazzaroth ; but we may suppose the
whole are equally included as those whose influences
we cannot bring forth nor bind. " He calleth them
all by their names." (Ps. cxlvii. 4.) And we read
that there was a time when the stars in their courses
fought in the Lord's course. (Judg. v. 20.) There
is an uncommon degree of beauty as well as subli-
mity in this relation of the heavenly bodies. The
Pleiades are those stars which form a cluster,
vulgarly called the seven stars, though even with
a naked eye, in a clear night, more can be seen in
the ring. Perhaps this is the smallest of the hea-
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venly constellations with which we are acquainted;
very beautiful they are to every beholder ; and
small as they are, yet we find they have u their
sweet influences." The bands of Orion are also
spoken of as perfectly uncontrollable ; and this
forms that very large constellation, perhaps none
larger in the chambers of the south. Arcturus is
among the nothern of the heavenly bodies, alike
independent of man's government, or man's guid-
ance. But what a refreshing thought it is to the
true believer in Jesus, the sinner's Saviour is the
Maker of them all ; and to whatsoever purpose else
they are formed to minister, they all by his appoint-
ment serve to his glory, and his people's welfare !
POMEGRANATE. This was a fruit of Palestine,
beautiful in its appearance, and very pleasant in
its taste ; and therefore Christ, in celebrating the
loveliness of the church, compares her temples to
" a piece of pomegranate within her locks."
(Song iv. 3,) And the church, speaking of the
glories of her Husband, saith, " I would lead thee,
and bring thee into my mother's house ; I would
cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of
my pomegranate." (Song viii. 2.) The sense is,
the church would treat Jesus with her best fare.
And as every thing she had and was came from her
Lord, surely her Lord should have the best of his
own gifts and graces. In a spiritual sense, believers
may be said to entertain Christ when, in their
exercises of faith in any of the gracious or provi-
dential dispensations of the Lord, our sorrows are
so sweetly tinged with the presence and sanctifying
blessings of the Lord, that they are like to spiced
wine in which is infused the juice of the pome-
granate. Jesus sweetens all, as the bitter waters
. at Marah were sweetened by the tree cast into
them. (Exod. xv. 23—25.)
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PONTIUS. See Pilate.
POOR. There are various terms of signification
annexed to the word poor. By the character of
poor is generally meant persons in indigent cir-
cumstances of body ; but the Scripture meaning of
the word poor, is the poverty of soul in respect to
our lost and ruined estate by nature. And there
is a third sense of the term, namely, the poor in
spirit, of whom our Lord saith, "Theirs is the king-,
dom of heaven." (Matt. v. 3.) It is proper to
keep alive the proper distinction of these different
views of natural and spiritual poverty when read-
ing the word of God.
PORATHA. Son of Haman. (Esth. ix. 8.) The
term is Persian, and signifies fruitful.
PORTERS. See Levi, and Levites.
PORTIUS FESTUS. He succeeded Felix in the
government of Judea. His name is only rendered
memorable in Scripture from the history of the
apostle Paul.
POSSESSED OF THE DEVIL. We meet with
many instances of this in the days of our Lord.
Indeed, as the Son of God was manifested that lie
might destroy the works of the devil, it should
seem that at that time the great enemy of souls
had permission to exert a more than usual power,
that in Ins being cast out the Lord Jesus might be
manifested thereby. But that the influence of the
evil spirit is not now wholly restrained, is too
evident to be denied. The general term made
use of in our courts of justice in the indictment of
criminals, is plain in proof; for the running phrase
is, that such an one, not having the fear of God
before his eyes, and being moved by the insti-
gation of the devil, did such and such things. But
while the fact itself is undeniable, it is a blessed
relief to the minds of God's people to know that
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the influence of the devil is not according to his
wishes, but according- to the Lord's permission ;
not whom he will, but whom he may. And it is
still more blessed, the conviction that all his temp-
tations, however differently intended by him, must
produce good in the result to the people of God.
From the first moment the arch fiend entered the
garden of Eden, through all the exercises of the
faithful, he is only accomplishing the gracious pur-
poses of God. Never would he have been allowed to
bruise the heel of the Lord's chosen, but that finally
the Lord might bruise his head. The whole powers
of darkness in their exercises of possessions, plots,
contrivances, imprisonments, temptations, and the
like, over the Lord's Israel, are only hastening
on the ruin of their own kingdom. "The God of
peace will bruise Satan under the feet of his peo-
ple shortly." (Rom. xvi. 20.)
POTIPHAR. An officer in the court of Pharaoh-
master to the patriarch Joseph. (Gen. xxxvii. 3(5.)
His name is derived, as it should seem to be, from
Paral), which means to scatter.
POTTER'S FIELD. See Aceldama.
PREDESTINATE. The apostle Paul in his Epistle
to the Romans, (chap. viii. 29.) speaking of God,
saith, " For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son." And elsewhere the same apostle, speaking
of the church in Christ, saith, " that he hath pre-
destinated them to the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will." (Eph. i. 5.) Hence it will
follow, that all the purposes of God in Christ con-
cerning redemption are first formed in the Lord
Jesus, and then the church in him ; and hence the
church is represented as saying with one voice,
(2 Tim. i. 9.) " Who hath saved us, and called us
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with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began."
PREPARATION. The preparation of the heart is
the great subject of enquiry in a work of this kind,
and to which therefore I would particularly direct
the attention. To prepare any person or thing
may be easily understood in fitting and qualifying,
in disposing or making ready ; but in Scripture
language the whole of the work, both in fitting and
qualifying, in disposing or making ready, is of the
Lord. So Solomon was commissioned to teach
the church ; and so every individual of the church
is made sensible. (Prov. xvi. 1.) The word pre-
paration seems to be taken from military maxims ;
and as soldiers are put in order under arms, and
made ready for their service, so the Lord disposeth
the frames and motions of his people's hearts for
his service. And it is very blessed when a child
of God feels this predisposing grace, and is con-
scious of being led on and carried through every
duty. From the first awakenings of grace until
grace is consummated in glory, the whole prepara-
tions of the heart, and the answer of the tongue,
is from the Lord. And when the soul of a poor
sinner hath been first prepared of the Lord, by
regenerating, illuminating, convincing, and con-
verting grace, and is thus brought into an union
with Christ, all the subsequent acts of grace, in
the goings forth of the soul upon the person,
blood, and righteousness of Christ, are from the
sweet preparing and disposing work of God the
Holy Ghost. It is most blessed to know this, and
to enjoy it. The daily access to the throne of
God in Christ is by the Spirit. (Eph. ii. 18.) It
is that blessed, holy and eternal Spirit, in his own
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offioe-work, which prepares the soul, by calling
off the mind from every object, and fixing the
affections on the person of Jesus. It is he which
awakens desire, creates a longing in the soul,
points to the Lord Jesus as alone able to supply
and satisfy the desires of the soul, and opens a
communication between Christ and the soul. He
that " searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God," searcheth both the heart, and prepareth
the heart for enjoyment. He spreads the rich
table, and prepares both the spiritual food and the
spiritual appetite to receive and enjoy it. In a
word, it is the Holy Ghost that is the great Author
and Giver of all that life and joy and peace in
believing, when the souls of the redeemed are
made to abound " in hope, through the power of
the Holy Ghost/' Hence, therefore, to him alone
should believers be always looking for the pre-
parations of the heart; for in this sweet office of
the Spirit, God's Christ and the redeemed soul
are brought together ; and the Lord the Spirit
dGth more in one moment to prepare our unpre-
pared hearts than, without his influence, could be
accomplished in ten thousand years by all our
labours in prayers and tears. How blessedly the
church sings to this note of praise, for the pre-
paring and disposing grace of the Spirit, when
she cried out : " Or ever I was aware, my soul
made me like the chariots of Amminadib ! " (Song
vi. 12.) As if she had said, before I had the
least apprehension of the mercy, my Lord my
Husband made me willing, by the swift mani-
festations of his love, and the awakenings of his
grace in my heart, as rapid as the chariot wheels
of a princely people.
PRESENTS. W e read in Scripture of presents upon
various occasions ; and it should seem to have
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been intended as not only important on account
of the value of what was given, but also more so
as a testimony of some particular meaning1. Thus
the king of Assyria desired the people to make
an agreement with him by a present. (2 Kings xviii.
31.) And it is marked with peculiar emphasis, in
the slights put upon Saul at his election, that
they brought him no presents. (1 Sam. x. 27.) But
there is reason to believe that the circumstance
is borrowed from a matter of greater moment, and
hath a spiritural reference. Thus we read from
the first, that Cain and Abel brought their mincha,
their offerings, unto the Lord. (Gen. iv. 3, 4.)
The after-age presents were to the same amount ;
for the mincha of the temple was simply an offer-
ing of meal or fine flour, and carried with it the
idea of a mincha of peace. Thus Jacob's present
to appease his brother, for he said, " [ will appease
him with the present, and afterwards I will see his
face." (Gen. xxxii. 20.) It should seem, therefore,
that in all those presents, which evidently were
presents of conciliation, there was an eye, however
darkly and indistinctly understood, to the great
doctrine of propitiation : and in confirmation of
this, it is remarkable that Malachi uses the very
word mincha, a present, or offering, when speak-
ing of the offerings that in the days of the gospel
should be offered unto the Lord. " For from the
rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the
same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles;
and in every place incense shall be offered unto
my name, and a pure offering." (Mai. i. 11.)
PRIEST. Strictly and properly speaking, there is
but one priest of Jehovah, and he the great High
Priest of his church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
other priest, even Aaron himself, acted no higher
than as the type of Jehovah's High Priest. For the
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High Priest of Jehovah must be as Jehovah him-
self, a Priest forever ; whereas, (as the Holy Ghost
blessedly speaks by Paul, Heb. vii* 23, 24.) those
priests were not suffered to continue, by reason of
death ; but this man, because he continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood. And how gra-
ciously the Lord adds, " Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them." (Heb. vii. 25.)
In our view of the Lord Jesus as Priest, it will
be necessary to consider the several features of
this high character, in order to have a proper con-
ception of it. Nothing can be more interesting to
know, in the whole offices of Jesus to his church
and people, and therefore I beg the reader that he
will indulge me with being somewhat more parti-
cular upon it.
And first, the office and character of the priest
should be considered, in order that we may dis-
cover the personal fitness and suitability for Christ
in this office ; and by the performance of which
the Lord Jesus proves that he, and he only, became
the proper High Priest for his church and people.
The Priest of Jehovah must be one consecrated and
set apart specially and personally to this office, and
this by Jehovah himself. And his office compre-
hends the offering of sacrifice, praying, and interced-
ing for the people, and also blessing the people in
Jehovah's name and by his authority. He must be
suited in sovereignty and power to act, by virtue
of his high office, as a proper Priest and Mediator
between Him before whom and to whom the offer-
ings are made, and the persons for whom they are
made. And he must be suited in personal feeling
and interest, to take part with them, and for him in
whose suit he acts ; so that neither party between
PR 701
whom he acts, a6 Priest and Mediator, may suffer
wrong-, but both parties have right and justice
shewn them by his priestly administration.
From this view of the office of the priesthood, it
is evident that the person undertaking and acting in
this high capacity must be both God and man. It
is expedient that he should be God to give merit
and efficacy to his offerings, to give energy and
power in the act of offering, to carry on the pur-
poses of his priestly offices in the unceasing agency
of his intercession, to become the object of faith,
love, hope, adoration, and trust, to all his people,
and to preserve for and give unto the objects for
whom he undertook this priestly employment all the
blessings purchased for his church andpeople by this
great undertaking. And it became equally expe-
dient that he who engaged to be Jehovah's High
Priest, in the purposes of redemption, should be
man as well as God. Had he not been man he could
not have been the suited Surety for the representa-
tion of his people, he could not have fulfilled the
law, answered the demands of justice, proved him-
self to be the seed of the woman, redeemed the
mortgaged inheritance of his poor brother, by death
overcome death, and by rising to life again become
the resurrection and the life, and been suited to be
the Head of his body the church, "the fulness that
filleth all in all." So that in every point of view,
and upon every consideration, the absolute expe-
diency is manifested that Jehovah's Priest must be
both God and man. None else could suit the
office, or be competent to the discharge of this
high character. And such was the Lord Jesus, and
him only. Indeed, so peculiarly suited was Christ
as God and man in one person, for this office, that
if it could be supposed any other had been, or could
have been, found competent to it, it would by so
702
much have lessened the Lord Jesus in this charac-
ter. But it is the blessed consideration to the
church, that the personal and peculiar fitness of the
Lord Jesus, and the fulness of fitness in him, and
in him only, is what endears him both to Jehovah
and to his people in this express office of
character.
So much then for the office itself, and the pecu-
liar suitability of the Lord Jesus to it. Let us next
consider the authority by which he acts, and the
glory lie hath displayed, and still is displaying, in
the unceasing- and everlasting exercise of it.
The Scriptures are full of information on this
most blessed point. Set up from everlasting in the
council of peace, we are told that he was regularly
called, consecrated and sworn into his office by virtue
of the oath of Jehovah before all worlds. For thus
the charter of grace runs; "The Lord hath sw^orn
and will not repent, thou art a Priest for ever, after
the order of Melchizedec." (Ps. ex. 4.) And this
authority of Jehovah was indispensibly necessary
to give efficacy and validity to all the acts of his
priesthood ; for it is not only the suitability of
Christ which renders his priesthood so dear to his
people, but it is the authority and appointment of
Jehovah which gives a warrant for faith to act upon
concerning him. Hence the Holy Ghost particu-
larly caused it to be recorded for the church's con-
fidence and joy in this particular, that Christ u glo-
rified not himself to be made an High Priest,
but was called of God, as was Aaron. For he that
said unto him, " Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee, said also in another place, Thou art
a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec."
(Heb. v. 4—6.)
Thus called, consecrated, and sworn into his
office, by the oath of the almighty appointer, it is
703
most blessed to behold how the Lord Jesus, in
every point of view, comes up to this high charac-
ter, and by the union of both natures carries on and
perfects the gracious office of our High Priest and
Intercessor. The sacrifice he once offered being
of infinite value, by virtue of his infinite nature, he
hath, " by that one offering of himself once offered
perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb.
x. 14.) And as the offering itself is a fulness of .
perfection, so the divine nature on which he offered
it became the golden altar of presentation to Jeho-
vah. The incense Jesus presents is his own merits,
and presented also from off the golden censer of
his divine nature. (See Rev. viii. 3, 4.) So that
the Lord Jesus is in one and the same moment every
thing in himself which constitutes both priest and
priesthood ; for he is the Sacrifice, the Sacrificer,
and the Altar on which alone all presentations are
or can be made, and the only medium by which all
can be offered. Hail ! thou glorious, gracious,
great High Priest of Jehovah and thy people ! Be
thou my New Testament altar, my sacrifice, my
offering, and do thou, Lord, graciously carry on
thy high priestly office still in heaven for all thy
church and people, until thou hast brought home
thy redeemed, " that where thou art, there they may
be also !"
Having thus taken a short view of the Lord Jesus
as Jehovah's High Priest, and a Priest upon his
throne, it may not be amiss to offer a short obser-
vation concerning the priesthood taken from among
men. It will be always profitable to read the Scrip-
tures of God concerning earthly priests, while we
keep in remembrance that all and every one of
them appointed by the Lord were never considered
higher in all their ministry than as types of the
ever-blessed Jesus. The law, with all its costly
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services, we have authority from the Holy Ghost
to say, was but a shadow of good things to come,
the body was Christ. (Heb. x. I, &c.)
Now from the earliest ages of the church, and
before the law, the patriarchs and holy men of God
ministered as priests in their families. Abel, Noah,
Abraham, and the fathers, offered their sacrifices,
and as such acted as priests. But that the church
might not err in their explanation of those things
it is worthy our closest regard, that God the Holy
Ghost hath expressly taught us that all these were
by faith. Let the reader read the account of Abel's
offering, Gen. iv. 4; Noah's, Gen. viii. 20, 21 ;
and Abraham's, Gen. xv. 17, 18 ; xxii ; and then
turn to Heb. xi. 3. 7. 17 ; and mark the sweet truth
opened and explained, as it is, by God the Holy
Ghost. These holy men of old offered all their
offerings by faith ; faith in whom but the Lord
Jesus Christ, that Lamb of God slain before the
foundation of the world? (Rev. xiii. 8.) Hence,
therefore, every priest typified and represented
Christ. Every lamb slain, every sacrifice offered,
every propitiation set forth, all shadowed forth the
person, work, blood-shedding, and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, and he only, is,
and was, and ever will be, Jehovah's Priest. All
other priests, whether Aaron or his sons, Levitical
or Christian, are no otherwise priests than as'they
act in the Lord Jesus's name, are ordained by his
authority, and minister for his glory. He is the
fountain of all order in his church ; and all true
believers in Christ are expressly said to be made
by him both kings and priests unto God and the
Father, agreeably to Jehovah's ancient promise to
the true Israel : "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests, and an holy nation." (Exod. xix 6.
Rev. i. 5. 1 Pet.ii. 9.)
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PRINCE. This is one of the titles of the Lord Jesus.
The prophet Ezekiel, in the close of his prophecv,
dwells much upon the character of the Lord Jesus
under the title of prince. I refer the reader to the
forty-fourth, forty-fifth, and forty-sixth chapters of
Ezekiel. I shall not think it necessary to enlarge
in our views of our adorable Lord as our Prince
and Saviour, for every act of his manifests his
royal princely sovereignty andpower as the glorious
Head of his body the church. All his reigns in
nature, providence, grace, and glory, set him forth
as the Prince of Peace, the universal Lord and
emperor in heaven and in earth. Hail, thou al-
mighty Lord ! do thou reign and rule in me and my
poor heart now and for ever. Amen.
It may not be amiss to observe, in a work of this
kind, that the Scripture attaches the title of prince
to various characters among men. We read of the
Dukes of Edom and other places in the first ages
of the world. (Gen. xxxvi, 15, &c.) And the heads
of families were called Cohen, prince, and Cohenim,
princes, by way of distinction. Indeed the word
is sometimes rendered priest also, as in the case of
Jethro, priest or prince of Midian. (Exod. ii. 16.)
So the word is sometimes rendered Governor.
(2 Chron. xviii. 25.) And even Satan is called the
prince of this world, and the prince of the power
of the air. (John xii. 31. Ephes. ii. 2.) The gene-
ral acceptation, therefore, of the term implies some-
what of power and dominion.
PRISCILLA. One of whom Paul the apostle speaks
highly, Rom xvi. 3 — 5. It is probable that this is the
same person spoken of by the same apostle, 2 Tim.
iv. 19. It should seem that she and her husband
Aquila, had offered their house for worship. What
a lovely view of saints of God !
PRISON. In the common acceptation of the word,
vol. vr. 2 z
706
we generally understand by a prison a place of con-
finement for the body ; but in Scripture language
there is added to this view of a prison a state of
' captivity to the soul. Hence the Lord Jesus is
said to be come to open the prison doors, and to
bring sinners from the captivity of sin and Satan.
Believers are sometimes said to be in prison-frames
when, from looking off from Jesus, they get into a
dark and comfortless state, and are in bondage to
their own unbelieving hearts. And when at any
time the soul of a poor buffeted child of God is
again delivered by some renewed manifestation of
the Lord Jesus, when he is brought out of the prison
house, he is constrained to cry out, " O Lord, truly
I am thy servant ; I am thy servant, and the son of
thine handmaid; thou hast loosed my bonds." (Ps.
cxvi. 16.)
PROCHORUS. One of the first seven deacons.
(Acts vi. 5.) The name is taken from the Greek,
and means one that is head of the choir.
PROFANE. In the general sense of this word we
readily understand that by doing any act contrary
to God's holy law, such as breaking the Sabbath,
touching holy things with polluted or defiled hands,
and the like, we profane them. But while these
things are plain enough, and cannot well be mis-
taken, there are some other cases where the word
to profane is used in Scripture, that may not be so
generally apprehended.
In the law of Moses we find this precept, Deut.
xx. 6. u And what man is he that hath planted a
vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him go
and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle,
and another man eat of it." In the margin of the
Bible the word is rendered, instead of eaten, hath
not made it common, that is, profaned it. And
agreeably to this we find the general precept con-
707
corning the fruit of the vineyard, Lev. xix. 23 — 25.
" And when ye shall come into the land, and shall
have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye
shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised :
three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you :
it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all
the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord
withal. And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the
fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase .
thereof; I am the Lord your God." It should seem
very evidently by these Scriptures, that things were
considered uncircumcised and unclean in the first
product of them ; but after the time limited they
were no longer unclean, but were now brought into
common use, and were profane ; that is, were to be
considered fit for common use. So that the word
profane means common. Hence the prophet Jere-
miah was commissioned to tell the people, that
when the Lord returned again the captivity of his
people, " they should yet plant vines upon the
mountains of Samaria, and that the planters should
plant and eat them as common things." In the margin
of the Bible it is, shall profane them. (Jer. xxxi.
4, 5.) The sense is, that they should enjoy them
in common as privileged things.
Let us add one Scripture more in proof. Our
blessed Lord, in the days of his flesh, walking
through the corn-fields, and his disciples eating of
the ears of corn on the Sabbath-day, were reprov-
ed by the pharisees for it. The Lord made this
answer : " Have ye not read in the law, how that
on the Sabbath-days the priests in the temple pro-
fane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" (Matt. xii. 5.)
Now it doth not appear from what we meet with in
the law, that the priests did any thing particularly
on the Sabbath-day of defilement ; therefore the
profaning Christ speaks of cannot mean what, in
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the common acceptation of the word, we should
call profaneness. But if we interpret this expres-
sion of our Lord concerning profaning the temple
by the analogy of Scripture, and not our ordinary
sense of the word, it would follow that the priests
were considered blameless in the temple in using
the Lord's blessings, of what kind soever they were,
to the Lord's glory, when the three years of their
uncircumcised state had passed as appointed by
the Lord. Then those things were, as the pro-
phet Jeremiah had observed, to be eaten as common
or profane things.
If these observations serve to throw a light on
the Scriptural word profane, they also serve to give a
clear apprehension of our Lord's meaning concern-
ing the profaneness of the priests in the temple, and
remaining blameless. In this sense the whole is clear ;
but without it there is a great difficulty in accepting
the word profane in the ordinary way of somewhat
that is defiled, and the priests defiling the temple,
and yet being free from blame.
The sense of the name given to Esau is upon
this ground plain and intelligible. He is called a
profane person, who for one morsel of meat sold
his birthright. (Heb. xii. 16.) The expression of
profane person doth not simply mean a defiled per-
son, for in this sense all the Jacobs of God are
unclean and defiled as well as the Esaus ; but the
profaneness means, the low esteem which Esau had
to the birthright of the promise in Christ, which he
despised, and to shew his contempt of it sold it
for a morsel of present food. He regarded not
Christ.
Will the reader indulge me with humbly offer-
ing one thought more on this subject? We find by the
law that the fruits of the trees in Canaan were pro-
hibited for three year s, and the reason given was.
709
that tliey were uncircumcised ; but that then in the
fourth year, after a circumcision had taken place,
all the fruit was declared holy unto the Lord ; and
the fifth year the fruits were deemed profane for
use. I do not presume to speak decidedly upon the
subject — I rather write humbly to enquire than to
decide ; but I would venture to ask, whether these
things were not typical of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his salvation ? When, by the three years of
Christ's ministry and death, redemption-work was
completed, and believers by the circumcision of
the Spirit are brought into a state of regeneration
and justification before God, all the fruits of the
Spirit are like the plants upon Samaria ; they shall
then profane them as common things ; they sludl
do as the priests did, and be blameless ; they shall
enter into the full enjoyment of them as common
tilings. * To the pure all things are pure." What
God hath cleansed we are commanded not to call
common or unclean. (Tit. i. 15. Acts x. 15.)
PROMISES. We have a most extensive sense to
the word promise, since every thing in the Bible,
yea, the Bible itself, is the word of promise. The
word includes every thing that hath respect to the
life that now is, and of that which is to come. All
the persons of the Godhead form the subject and
substance of the promise. God the Father is the
promise, and the matter of every promise. The
great and comprehensive promise is, " I will be
their God, and they shall be my people " — in which
the Lord gives himself, and a property in himself,
and all his divine perfections. Christ is also, in his
person, fulness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency,
the promise of the Scriptures ; and God the Holy
Ghost, in his sevenfold gifts and graces, the pro-
mise to the church and people ; and every thing
of blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, in
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PR
and with the Holy Three in One, form the promise
of Jehovah. To particularize would be endless.
The highest concern is, to enquire our interest in
the whole, and whether we are the children of
promise. " If we are Christ's, saith the Holy Ghost,
by the apostle, "then are we Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. iii. 29.)
PROPHET, and PROPHECY. Christ is the great
prophet of his church. John calls him, and verv
properly so, the Lord God of the prophets, (Rev.
xxii. 6.) And the apostle Paul draws a line of ever-
lasting distinction between him and all his servants
when, in the opening of his Epistle to the He-
brews, he saith, " God, who at sundry times, and in
flivers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, and by whom he made the world."
(Heb. i. 1, 2.)
Concerning the Spirit of prophecy, the Holy
Ghost hath taught the church that prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man, but " holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost." (2 Pet. i. 21.) A plain proof of the agency
of the Holy Ghost in the old church, as hath been
manifested in a more open display, since the ascen-
sion of Christ, under the new. But between Jesus and
his servants an everlasting difference marks their
different characters as prophets. The servants of
the Lord who ministered to the church in his nam e
as prophets, had the gifts and anointings of the
Holy Ghost ; but this, it should seem, not always,
but as occasion required. Hence we read that the
Spirit of the Lord came upon them ; to every one
was given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ. But to Christ himself the anoint-
ings were always. "He, saith John, whom God
71)
hath sent, speaketh the words of God, for God
giveth not to the Spirit by measure unto him: in
him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
The influences of the Holy Ghost were never in
any mere man, yea, even the highest prophet, but
as water in a vessel; but in Christ, he himself was
the fountain, in whom was all fulness. So that
between the highest servant and the master there
was this everlasting and essential difference. Moses,,
the man of God, of whom we are told, "there arose
not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses,
whom Jehovah knew face to face," (Deut. xxxiv.
10.) yet of this great man the Holy Ghost tells the
church by Paul, though " he was faithful in all the
Lord's house as a servant " — yet of Christ he
bears witness that he was " as a Son over his own
house." (Heb. iii. 1 — 6.) And so again of John
the Baptist, who came in the Spirit and power of
Elias, and by the lip of truth itself was declared to
be " the greatest prophet born among women ; " yet
when compared to Christ, his Lord, he was but a
voice, which witnessed to Jesus and then died
away, the " very latchet of whose shoes he was not
worthv to stoop down and unloose." (Matt. xi. 11.
John i. 23—27.)
Concerning the prophets of the Old Testament,
they were sometimes called seers ; but before the
days of Samuel we do not meet with the name.
(See 1 Sam. ix. 9.) Hence afterwards we read of
Gad, David's seer, 1 Chron. xxi. 9. So again He-
man, the king's seer, 1 Chron. xxv. 5. The dif-
ference, it should seem, between the prophet and
the seer lay in this, the prophets were inspired
persons, to predict to the church the will of Jeho-
vah either by word of mouth, or writing ; the seer
committed to writing the records of the church.
Hence we read concerning the acts of Manasseh,
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PR
that they were written among- the sayings of the
seers. (2 Chron. xxxiii. 19.)
It were unnecessary to remark, what every
reader of the Bible is supposed to know, that we
have recorded, from the grace of God the Holy
Spirit, the writings of four of what, by way of dis-
tinction, are called the greater prophets, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; and the writings of
the twelve of lesser prophets, as they are named,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi, I do not apprehend that these dis-
tinctions of greater and lesser prophets is given to
them from the most distant idea that the writings of
the lesser prophets are less important than those
of the greater, but wholly on account of their bulk.
All are alike given by inspiration of God, and all
alike give witness to Jesus ; for " the testimony of
Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." (Rev. xix. 10.)
I have elsewhere, in my Poor Man's Com-
mentary on the Bible, when giving a statement of
the order of the books of Scripture, marked down
(and I hope with tolerable accuracy) the particular
date in which each of those holy men of old mi-
nistered in the church. I rather, therefore, refer
to that statement, which the reader will find imme-
diately after the title-page and preface, than swell
the bulk of these sheets with reciting it again. It
will be sufficient in this place to observe, that all
these servants of God ministered in their day and
generation to one and the same cause, namely, to
bring forward the church's attention to the coming
of Christ ; and when the Holy Ghost was pleased
to suspend their ministry, it was only done by way
of causing the minds of the faithful to pause over
their sacred records, and to wait by faith and hope
to behold the fulfilment of their prophecies in the
713
advent of Jesus. From the close of Malachi's pro-
phecy to the opening- of the mouth of Zacharias,
(Luke i. 67.) there passed an intervening- period of
near three hundred and fifty years ; but this dark
season only indicated a brighter day that was
coming on. The evening of the prophets only testi-
fied the approach of the morning of the evangelists.
The day-dawn and the day-star were hastening to
arise, when Jesus the Son of Righteousness, should .
appear, to go down no more, but to be the ever-
lasting light of his people, their God, and their
glory !
PROPITIATION. We meet with this word but
twice in the Bible, namely, Rom. iii. 25 ; and
1 John ii. 2 ; but it is most blessed and precious in
both. The Septuagint render it Ilasmos; and the
propitiatory, or mercy-seat, they call Uasterion.
The plain and evident sense of propitiation is, that
of conciliating favour and reconciling persons which
before were at variance. To propitiate, therefore,
is to restore that amity and friendship which had
subsisted before the quarrel took place, and thus
make friends again. Such, in a very high degree,
is the propitiation accomplished by Christ Jesus
for his people ; and hence, by way of special em-
phasis, Christ is himself called the propitiation. For
when sin had made a dreadful breach between God
and man, Christ stood forth the propitiation, and
made u peace by the blood of his cross." This doc-
trine was beautifully shadowed forth in the Old
Testament, and accomplished under the New.
(See Exod. xxv. 17—27.)
As the subject itself is of all others the most inte-
resting, and the just and proper apprehension of it
highly important, I persuade myself that I shall
have the reader's indulgence if I enter into the
consideration of it a little more fully.
714
The two great features in the doctrine of pro-
pitiation, are the greatness of the act itself by the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the authority and approba-
tion of God the Father in the appointment. And
Scripture is express in explaining both ; for speak-
ing of Christ as a propitiation, the apostle saith,
that " having made peace by the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things to himself ; by him,
I say, (saith the apostle) whether they be things in
earth, or things in heaven." (Col. i. 20.) The apos-
tle lays the greatest stress upon the personal glory
of Christ in this act, and repeats his expression by
him, I say, as if to shew, and which is indeed the
chief glory of it, how much depended upon the
infinite dignity of Christ's person, and the infinite
merit of his work. And no less to shew the mo-
mentous consequence that the hand of Jehovah
should also be found to concur in this great design,
the same apostle was commissioned to tell the
church that it was God " which set him forth as
a propitiation, through faith in his blood." (Rom.
iii. 25.) Yea, so much was the heart of Jehovah in
every part of this gracious undertaking, that God
u was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them." (2 Cor.
v. 19.) Oh, precious consideration of a precious
God in Christ !
Reader, what saith your experience of these
things ? What views have you of Christ, the pro-
pitiation with the Father, and set forth by the
Father ? Are you daily, hourly, looking to this for
the only acceptation of your person and your offer-
ing ? Depend upon it, it is to this propitiation of
his dear Son alone that God hath respect. The
very sight of Christ, the lamb slain, in the midst of
the throne, becomes the cause of God the Father
being propitious to the sinner. To Jesus, as to the
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715
rainbow round the throne, Jehovah looks, and re-
members his everlasting covenant. And what a sweet
thought! Jesus not only thus appears in the pre-
sence of God for us, but his blood pleads for
us too. It is indeed a speaking blood, for it speaks to
God of Jesus's preciousness, and it speaks from
God of the Father's faithfulness ; and by both to
confirm the blood of the covenant. Jesus! my full,
my glorious, my complete, and all-sufficient
Saviour ! be thou my daily object of unceasing
delight, my mercy-seat, propitiatiou, high priest,
altar, sacrifice, and sacrificer ; yea, my all in all : I
need no more in time, and to all eternity! See
Mercy Seat.
PROSELYTE. The Hebrews called a proselyte Ger,
or Necher, which signifies a stranger. And as a
proselyte meant a proselyte of the gate, one con-
verted from heathenism to the truth, and admit-
ted into what was called the court of the Gentiles,
no doubt the name was very proper. Such was the
honest centurion, Cornelius. (Acts x.)
PROVERBS. The general sense of the word, accord-
ding to Scripture, means somewhat that is instruc-
tive. The Eastern method of teaching by simili-
tudes, and figures, and parables, was the most
general : hence Solomon's whole book is to this
amount. The Hebrews called proverbs Mishle.
Our blessed Lord was pleased to follow this po-
pular mode of instruction, for which we are in-
debted for those numberless beauties in the gospel.
So much so was this plan adopted by Christ, that
we are told that at one time without a parable
spake he not unto them. (Matt. xiii. 14.) But such
was the grace of Jesus to his disciples, that when
he was alone he expounded and explained all
things unto them. When we read, therefore, the
parables, or indeed any other of the blessed say-
HQ
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ings which dropped from Christ's mouth, when we
are alone with Jesus we should ask the indulgent
Lord to do the same by us, and make the word
doubly sweet and blessed by unfolding and explain-
ing all things to us himself.
PROVIDENCE. We meet with this word (as far as
I recollect) but once in the Bible, and that is in
the famous speech of the orator Tertullus. (Acts
xxiv. 2.) If the reader will consult the Scripture, he
will find the occasion upon which it was used. I
should not have thought it necessary to have given
it a place in this work, but with the hope of cor-
recting the improper application of it which is but
too common in life. I have noticed upon numberless
occasions this error, yea, even among truly pious
persons, from whom one might have ' expected
better things ; and therefore I hope I shall not
offend in my observations upon it. The word pro-
vidence is somewhat similar to that of dispensation,
or ordination, and hath a general reference to the
appointments of God. Hence when we speak of
the Lord's government, either in the kingdoms of
nature or grace, we say, the Lord by his provi-
dence hath ordered all things in heaven and in
earth. It is he that provideth for the raven his food.
(Job xxxviii. 41.) So again, speaking of the Lord's
care over his people, it is said, " thou preparest
them corn when thou hast so provided for it."
(Ps. lxv. 9.) From all which it appears, that provi-
dence or providing are acts of the Lord, and not
the Lord himself. Therefore when it is said, (as it
is too frequently said) I hope providence will do
this or that, I trust to providence, providence hath
been very good, and the like, this is ascribing to
the deed what belongs only to the Lord, the doer
of that deed; and however unintentional on the
part of the speaker, it becomes a great error. We
717
should never give any glory to the creatures of God
which belongs only to God himself; and to ascribe
to providence what belongs only to the God of his
providences, is certainly doing so. Both providence
and grace are creatures of God ; and however the
Lord is carrying on his merciful purposes of redemp-
tion by both to his church and people, yet to give
glory to either, instead of glorifying the Author of
either, is to overlook the loveliness of the Lord in
the loveliness of his creatures, and to place se-
condary things in the stead of the first. Whereas
we ought to say, to use somewhat like the form of
the apostle James, "If the Lord will, we shall live
by his providence and grace." (Jam. iv. 15.)
PSALMS. The book of Psalms is called by the Jews
Sepher Tihillim, which more particularly signifies,
the book of psalms, or hymns of praise. But there
are two other names given by the Hebrews to the
psalms, Zemer and Sher. The former is taken
from a root in Hebrew signifying to prune ; and
the latter from a word signifying power. And
hence some have thought, that as the chief scope
and tendency of the psalms is to lead to Christ, the
former implies his humiliation, and the latter his
glory. And it is remarkable, (but whether it may
be considered as confirming this opinion I do not
presume to say) that when the Lord Jesus was ex-
pounding to the two disciples, in his way to Emmaus,
on the morning of his resurrection, the things con-
cerning himself, he made use of those very argu-
ments as proofs in his humiliation, and glory of his
divine mission. " Ought not Christ (said he) to
have suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory." (Luke xxiv. 26.)
The Psalms have been generally divided into five
heads, but it doth not appear that the Holy Ghost
hath given any authority for this division. Taken
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as one grand whole, they form a complete epitome
of the gospel ; and from those which plainly point
to Christ, and can refer to no other, we may venture
to conclude that those which do not in our appre-
hension, the obscurity ariseth from our dulness, and
not from any want of allusion to him. As to Jesus
give all the prophets witness, and as the Psalms
many of them are prophetical, evidently they are
included. It is best in the perusal of every one of
them to be on the look-out for Jesus, for precious
are the things contained in the Psalms concerning
him.
On those fifteen psalms entitled A song of degrees,
from the one hundred and twentieth to the one hun-
dred and thirty-fourth included, I can offer no one
observation to form the least conjecture what the
title means. As the Holy Ghost hath not thought
proper to explain the cause for which they are so
called, it should seem to be the safest plan to avoid
all unprofitable enquiries, than attempt to be wise
above what is written. The Psalms themselves are
full of Jesus, and therefore in the discovery and
enjoyment of him it will be our highest wisdom
to direct our researches, praying that as often as
the Holy Ghost opens any part of this precious
volume to our meditation, he that hath the key of
David may open our heart to the right apprehen-
sion of them, to make us wise unto salvation, through
the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
PUA. There were two of this name — Pua, son of
Issachar, Gen. xlvi. 13; and Pua, the father of
Tola, Judg. x. 1.
PUAH. One of the midwives of Egypt. The name
is derived from Pahah, meaning to groan or cry.
The honourable testimony given of this woman, as
well as Shiphrah, see Exod. i. 15. to the end ; and
the houses said to be built for them ; is rather to be
P U 719
taken figuratively, that the Lord built up their
households. And as they had endeavoured, in de-
fiance of the king's command, to save Israel's chil-
dren, the Lord saved to them theirs.
PUBLICAN. It were to be wished that the term
publican was well understood when reading the New
Testament, since to the want of it many errors may
occur. In modern times we all perfectly consider
by the name of publican, one who keeps a public .
house or tavern. Very different from this was the
character of the publican in Scripture. Among the
Romans they had tax-gatherers, who were called
publicans ; and as the office was odious to all Jews
being under the government of the Roman power,
and as the office itself was invidious, so was the
person collecting. Hence they were considered
as the most worthless of men, and always classed
with the refuse of the people. It became proverbial
to join publicans and sinners together; and espe-
cially if a Jew, for the sake of gain, hired himself out
to gather the taxes for the Romans, and thereby
exacted it from his brethren, his name and charac-
ter became altogether detestable. And hence when
the Lord Jesus was pointing out to his disciples a
man of more than ordinary worthlessness, he said,
u Let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a
publican." (Matt, xviii. 17.)
It is very blessed and encouraging to discover
that with all this odiousness of character, we fiud a
Matthew and a Zaccheus eminently distingushed
as partakers of the grace in Christ Jesus. Such
indeed are the properties of grace, that the Lord
seems to delight in giving tokens of its distinguish-
ing power. "Publicans and harlots, said Jesus,
to the proud self-righteous pharisees, go into the
kingdom of God before you." (Matt xxi. 31.)
The reader will find a beautiful and interesting
720
portrait of an humble publican contrasted to a
proud phansee, Luke xviii. 9. And the reader
will find a yet more lovely and interesting- portrait
of Jesus receiving- poor publicans, and being encir-
cled with them, Luke xv. 1, &c.
PUBLIUS. The chief man of the island at Malta
when Paul landed there. (Acts xxviii. 7 — 9.)
PLFDENS. One of whom Paul makes honourable
mention, 2 Tim. iv. 21.
PUHITES. They are mentioned 1 Chron. ii. 53. but
what they were, or their office, is not known. Some
derive their name from Pathah, to seduce.
PUL. King of Assyria. The name is not Hebrew, but
rather Assyrian, from Phol, which some read Bean.
PUNISHMENTS . There were many kinds of these
among the Hebrews, according to the crimes com-
mitted— scourging, stoning, imprisonment, hanging-,
and many others. But it is observable that in all
cases, excepting high crimes against God, tender-
ness was mingled with their punishments. So much
of the mercy of the gospel was even then shadowed
out in Christ Jesus !
PUNON. A place were Israel pitched in the wilder-
ness, between Petra and Segor. Some have
thought that it was here Moses set up the brazen
serpent, Num. xxi. 7. and Num. xxxiii. 42. The
name Punon means precious stone.
PUR and PURIM. Feasts of the Jews, so called,
Esth. iii. 7. The word means Lot. So that Purim
(or Lots in the plural) were those seasons when
they celebrated their triumph over Haman and his
house ; and which festivals are kept even to this hour.
PUTEOLI. A city rendered memorable from the
apostle Paul residing there a week in his way to
Rome. (Acts, xxviii. 13.)
PUTIEL. Father to the wife of Eleazar. (Exod. vi.
25.) The name seems to be a compound of Phut,
fulness and I-el, my God. God is my fulness.
721
Q.
QUAILS. We read of the Lord's giving Israel
those birds for food upon two occasions. First,
soon after they left Egypt in the wilderness of Zin,
(Exod. xvi.) and the second time when they were en-
camped at Ribroth-hattaavah, which the margin of
the Bible renders the graves of lusts. (Num. xi. 34.)
And upon both occasions this food was given to them
in consequence of their rebellion: hence therefore
it was in correction, and not in favour.
Various have been the opinions of men concern-
ing the nature and kind of the quail. Moses called
it Shalor. It is said to have been a small bird of
great delicacy. The supply was so great the second
time, that they victualled a camp of more than a
million of persons for a whole month ; so that they
must have been like the shoals of pilchards on the
western coast, every day covering the ground in
multitudes.
I would refer the reader to those portions in the
word of God for the history of those events, Exod.
xvi. and Num. vi. 11. And I would beg of him,
when he hath diligently read those Scriptures, to
consider what solemn lessons such views hold
forth of God's people running counter to God's
government. The Psalmist hath made a beautiful
observation upon this self-will of Israel, and the
awful cousequence of it, when saying, * they lusted
exceedingly, or as the words are, they lusted a
lust in the wilderness, and tempted God in the de-
sert. And he gave them their request, but sent
leanness into their soul." (Ps. cvi. 14, 15.) It is an
awful thing to be gratified in the creature, when
such gratifications tend to rebellion against the
vol. vi. 3 A
722 Q U
Creator. " Give me children (said Rachel to Jacob)
or else I die.'' (Gen. xxx. 1.) She had her desire,
but she died in child-bearing-. The child was a
Benoni ; that is, as she herself called him, (and is
rendered in the margin of our Bibles) the son of
my sorrow. (Gen. xxxv. 18.) Jonah's gourd was
very refreshing to the prophet, but the disappoint-
ment ended in sin. It is a blessed thing to let God
choose for us, and this will be always right ; but
if we will ride restive, like Jeshurun, a fall must
be the consequence. Children never carve for them-
selves but they cut their fingers. See Kibroth-
hataavah.
QUARTUS. A brother, Paul calls him.' (Rom. xvi.
23.) No doubt, he meant a brother beloved in Christ.
(See Phil, xvi.)
QUEEN OF HEAVEN. There can be but little
doubt but by the phrase we meet with Jer. vii.
18. queen of heaven, was meant the moon ; and
such was the apostacy of Israel in the days of Je-
remiah, that as the prophet tells them, the " children
gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead their dough to make cakes to the
queen of heaven."
There had been always in Israel from their inter-
course with other nations, a proneness to idolatry ;
and hence Moses cautioned them against being in-
fected therewith. I beg the reader to turn to the
fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, and observe, from
beginning to end, with what tenderness and affec-
tion the man of God admonisheth Israel on this
point.
Concerning the disposition to pay adoration to
the heavenly bodies, we find this, more or less, per-
vading the human mind untaught of God among
all nations. And as the greater light, the sun
which Jehovah made to rule the day, was called
Q U 723
Baal Shcmim, lord of heaven, so the lesser light,
the moon, which governed the night, was naturally
called Malkah Shemem, queen of heaven ; and from
the influence of both they naturally became idols.
While we behold such things, what cause of thank-
fulness ought it to call forth towards God, who by
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, hath opened
to us the knowledge of himself, that u. we might
turn from idols to serve the living and true God 1"
Beautifully hath Moses pointed out to us. in his
dying benediction to Israel, the blessedness of the
Israel of God beyond the precious fruits brought
forth by the sun,andtheprecious things put forth by
the moon, " in the good will of him that dwelt in
the bush." (Deut. xxxiii. 14. 16.)
QUICKEN. The Scripture sense and meaning of
quickening is very great, andincludes some very pre-
cious properties, with which every child of God is
supposed to be acquainted inhis own person and cir-
cumstances. It runs indeed through the whole
of the divine life of God in the soul, from the first
quickening the sinner, which is by nature clad in
trespasses and sins, through all the after-ages of
the renewed life, until that grace is finished in
everlasting glory.
And what tends to endear this divine favour to
all the happy receivers of it, the Scriptures gra-
ciously declare that all the persons of the Godhead
are engaged in this merciful work, and every indi-
vidual soul carries about with him, from day to
day, evidences in his own heart of the united love,
and grace, and favour, which is upon him, from the
quickening operations of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. I beg the reader to attend to what holy
Scripture saith on this point, and then look into
bis own heart for the blessed testimonies to be
found there corresponding to the word of God. •
3 a 2
724 Q U
Concerning God the Father's quickening grace
upon the soul, we read, (Rom. iv. 17.) that "God
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were." And agreeably to
this, the apostle Paul tells the Ephesians (chap. ii.
4, 5.) that them he had quickened, " who were dead
in trespasses and sins. God (said he) who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quick-
ened us together with Christ."
And we know from the same authority, that one
of the divine characters of our Lord, given of him
by the Holy Ghost, is that of a quickening Spirit.
" The last Adam (was made) a quickening Spirit."
(1 Cor. xv. 45.) And this is in perfect agreement
to what the Lord Jesus himself said : " For as the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." (John
v. 21.)
And with equal clearness of truth, the same
blessed things are spoken in Scripture of the
quickening power of God the Holy Ghost. "It is
the Spirit that quickeneth : (saith the Lord Jesus)
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And
the apostle Peter was directed to tell the church,
that even the human nature of Christ, as the Head
of his body the church, when put to death in the
flesh, was quickened by the Spirit. (1 Pet.
iii. 18.)
What a blessed contemplation do such views
open to the souls of the redeemed, when made
conscious of their own personal interest therein !
Jesus as the Head of his body the church, unites
all his individual members to himself. By virtue
of this headship, and their union in him, he becomes
the source, and fountain, and spring of all spiritual
725
life. For by virtue of that union, of what he is in
himself as their head, he communicates to them
perpetual supplies in a life-giving, soul-quickening,
soul-renewing, strengthening, refreshing power,
from day to day ; and like some rich, overflowing,
and ever-flowing fountain, diffuseth life, grace,
strength, and joy to all his members. " Because
I live, (he saith himself) ye shall live also and
hence his servant the apostle saith, "Your life is
hid with Christ in God." Such are the blessed
privileges to which all true believers in Christ
are begotten ! By those quickening influences of
the Godhead, they are first brought into a new and
spiritual life from the death of sin, from which they
are awakened. They are carried on from day to
day, in the renewed acts of grace they receive
from the same source of mercy ; under all spiritual
decays, arising from their own helplessness and
frailty, they are raised up by the continual streams
of " that river which maketh glad the city of God ;"
and the same almighty power which first brings
forth into life the renewed soul, preserves from all
future decays, dissolution, and death, the spiritual
frame, until brought home to everlasting glory.
Hence David, sensible of the source from whence
all the energies of grace were derived, cried out
no less than nine times in one Psalm for the quick-
ening influences of the Lord's Spirit. (Ps. cxix.
25. 37. 40. 88. 107. 149. 154. 156. 159.)
QUIVER. We meet with this word in reference to
the Lord and to his people. The Lord Jesus,
speaking of Jehovah's eternal purpose and cove-
nant respecting himself, saith : " The Lord hath
called me from the womb ; from the bowels of my
mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath
made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow
of his hand hath he hid me ; and made me a polished
726
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shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me." (Isa. xlix.
1, 2.) No doubt, from the womb of eternity, in the
council of peace, and before all worlds, was Jesus
in his mediatorial character set up, as well as his
name declared to be Jesus by the angel before he
was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
The quiver of God is a fine expression, both to
express the power and secrecy in which the person
and purposes of God in Christ were concealed.
So that the whole plan and determined end oi
redemption, were in Jehovah's quiver concern-
ing Christ not only before his incarnation, or even
as the promised seed, u but while as yet he had not
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part
of the dust of the world." (Prov. viii. 26.) What
a blessed consideration to the souls of the re-
deemed !
The Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of the
term quiver in reference to the Lord's people.
The arrows of a mighty man are said to be striking
figures of children, and a blessedness is declared to
be the portion of that man that hath his quiver full
of them. (Ps. cxxvii. 4, 5.) Children of grace are
indeed blessed portions in a gracious man's quiver.
Such in the great day of the Lord will be subjects
of real joy ; and the Lord, who hath given them,
will give holy boldness with them, that there will
be no shame when standing before their enemies in
the gate.
R.
RAAMAH. One of the sons of Cush. (Gen. x. 7.)
There was a Raam-jahalso among them that return-
ed from Babylon. (Neh. vii. 7.) And as Raam, or
Raamah, is derived from Raham, thunder, Raam-
jah, means thunder of the Lord.
R A
727
RAAMSES. One of the cities built by the children
of Israel in Egypt for Pharaoh. (Exod. i. 11.) The
word is derived from the same root, Raham.
RABBI or RABBONI. This name is variously pro-
nounced, but all mean one and the same, namely,
my master. The Rab of an house, or family,
means the head of it ; hence Daniel speaking- of
Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, calls him
Rab Sarism. And if there were more than one per-
son dignified with the name of master, doctor, or
Lord, instead of Rabbi, my master, they were called
Rabbim, masters. There were different degrees,
we are told, in those titles. The head of a school or
college was called Chocham. And those titles were
not sought for, or studied for, by any rules or laws ;
but when the people discovered any to be emi-
nently blessed with superior learning to others,
he was, as by general consent, called Rabbi, my
master, or Chocham, wise.
Rabbim of schools sat upon places raised above
their pupils ; hence Paul declares that he was
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. (Acts xxii. 3.)
How sweetly Christ taught humbleness concerning
these names of honour ! and who so suited to teach
it as that humble Saviour ? (Matt, xxiii. 8.) See
Master.
RABBAH. This city, with Kirjath-baal, or Kinjath-
geariui, was among those which Joshua divided by
lotto Israel. (Josh. xv. 60.J
RABBAH, or RABBATH AMMON. The city of
waters. (See 2 Sam. xii. 26, 27.)
RABBA-MOAB. The same as Kirheres. (Jer.
xlviii. 31.)
RAB-MAG. A general in the king of Babylon's
army. (Jer. xxxix. 3.) The word is compounded of
Rab and Magi — the chief of the magi, or wise
men.
728 R A
RAB-SHAKEH, or RAB-SACES. A compound
. of words — Rab, master — Shaken, cupbearer.
(2 Kings xviii. 17.)
RAB-SARIS, or SARIM. Master of the eunuchs.
A title of office. (Jer. xxxix. 3.)
RACA. A Syriac word, signifying- somewhat very
opprobious, such as sorry fellow, villain, and the
like ; so that it is a term of the utmost contempt,
and seldom used unless accompanied with spitting.
See Spitting. Our blessed Lord hath defined three
several degrees of guilt in the use of improper
anger and names. (Matt. v. 22.) u I say unto you,
(saith Jesus) thatwhosoeveris angry with his brother
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment ;
and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall
be in danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say,
Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." It was a law
of the Sanhedrim, founded upon the law of God, that
no one should cherish anger against another, much
less bring a railing accusation. He that did so was
justly exposed to the judgment of God ; but if he
went farther than mental anger, and called his bro-
ther Raca, should be brought before the council, that
judgment might be speedily obtained. But if still
prosecuting his malignity, and said, Thou fool, that
is, thou child of hell, and this to a brother who is
a child of God, such an one was in danger of hell
fire. The Jews had three different sorts of punish-
ment. Beheading was commanded by judgment ;
stoning by the order of the Sanhedrim, or council ;
and burning in Gehenna, the valley of the son of
Hinnom. (See Jer. vii. 31, 32.) Josiah, the good
king, in order to pollute this place, and render it
everlastingly hateful to Israel, commanded all the
filth he could rake together, and dead men's bones,
to be thrown into it. (2 Kings xxiii.) There is some-
what of difficulty at first view iiUhis passage of our
729
Lord. To say to another Raca, subjects the offender
to the curse and condemnation of the council;
but to say thou fool, makes the offender in danger
of hell-fire. Whereas we find the apostle Paul
using the very phrase in his discourse on the resur-
rection. (1 Cor. xv. 36.) And our blessed Lord him-
self, when reproving the dulness of his disciples,
said, u O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all
that the prophets have spoken." (Luke xxiv. 26.)
But the difficulty vanisheth when the passages
' are compared together. In the instance of the
apostle, and his master, the term fool is but a gen-
tle reproof, and meant in a tender way to correct
a dulness of understanding. In the case to which
. Jesus refers, the utmost anger and malice is sup-
posed ; so that when the offender calls his bro-
ther fool, he means one that is a child of hell,
and under the curse of God. Oh, for grace to
be kept from sins of such heinousness and malig-
nity !
RACHEL. A well-known and interesting name in
the Bible, the beloved wife of the patriarch Jacob,
and daughter of Laban. The name itself means
sheep. And from being engaged in keeping flocks,
in these early days of patriarchal simplicity, it is
probable the name was taken on that account. Her
history we have, Gen. xxix. 30, &c. It may be
observed, that we have a city in the tribe of Judah
called Radial, or Rachel ; probably in honour of
this mother in Israel. (1 Sam. xxx. 29.)
RADDAI. One of the sons of Jesse, and brother of
David. (1 Chron. ii. 14.) The name is probably
borrowed from Radad, to stretch.
RAHAB. The memorable woman of the city of
Jericho, of whose faith the Holy Ghost hath given
such honourable testimony, Heb. xi. 31. Her name
730
is derived from Raah, and signifies proud. And
if there be aught upon earth to make sinful dust
and ashes proud, surely the faith this woman pos-
sessed formed the strongest temptation to it ; when
we consider who she was, what she was, where she
lived, and how she acted in the cause of the Lord.
Her history is as great and striking, in the illus-
trious actings of her faith, as any in the records of
truth.
She was one of the inhabitants of Canaan, a
Gentile, an alien, and by nature an enemy to the
commonwealth of Israel, "without hope, and with-
out God in the world." Moreover, she was, as we
say, a publican, and an harlot, not only kept an
inn, exposed to numberless temptations, but a
woman of ill-fame, notoriously known for such a
character. She lived also in the accursed city of
Jericho, a city devoted to destruction before the
Lord, and of peculiar malignity of evil in the Lord's
sight. And yet with all those disadvantages, this
Rahab, this harlot, was a believer in the Lord God
of Israel ! Oh, the wonders of distinguishing grace !
And what tends yet more to raise our views of the
Lord's peculiar manifestation and love to this poor
harlot, is the consideration that from the stock of
this woman, after <he flesh, the Lord appointed the
future advent of his dear Son. By her marriage to
Salmon, from whom sprang Boaz ; and by the mar-
riage of Boaz with Ruth, sprang Obed ; and, from
Obed, Jesse ; and from Jesse, David; and from
David, after twice fourteen generations after the
flesh, sprang Christ. (See Matt. i. 1—17.) What
subjects of wonder the glorious redemption by the
Lord Jesus Christ involves in it ! Here, as in a thou-
sand instancesbeside, welearn that "theLord's ways
are not our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts !" I
R A
731
pray the reader to give a diligent attention to her
history, Josh. ii. throughout.
We meet with the mention of another Rahab,
Ps. lxxxvii. 4. And in Ps. lxxxix. 10, Rahab is
said to be broken in pieces: by which is meant,
most probably, Pharaoh and his host. We find,
and not unfrequently, names figuratively used to
denote the Lord's enemies. Thus the Psalmist
elsewhere saith, " Thou brakest the heads of Levia- .
than in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the
people inhabiting the wilderness." (Ps. lxxiv. 13,
14.) Here is an evident allusion to the destruction
of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea ; and after-
words causing the people, when at any time in
their wilderness-state, to meet with difficulties, that
the recollection of this mighty deliverance might
become food to their faith, to help them through
any present trouble.
RAH AM. Son of Shema, (1 Chron. ii. 44.) The word
Raham, or Racham, is bowels.
RAIN. Every one knows what rain is, and all are
sensible of the importance of this blessing on the
earth. No doubt it is produced by the exhalation
of the sun, forming vapours from the earth and
sea, which return in showers, to carry on the mer-
ciful purposes of the Lord in his blessings on nature.
And the same in the moral and spiritual world, all
comes from the same source in the Lord's own
sovereignty and goodness ; for as the sun in the
natural world is the first and predisposing cause,
so in the moral and spiritual world it is the Sun of
righteousness, from his divine operation on the
hearts of his people, which brings forth the showers
of grace, and induceth all the blessed effects which
follow in their lives and conversation.
The prophet Hosea beautifully expresseth this
truth in one of his chapters. He represents a time
732
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of drought by the bottles of heaven being stopped,,
and the earth languishing for thirst ; and under
these circumstances he brings in the heavens and
the earth as sending forth their cries for the
needed mercy, and the goodness of the Lord in
answering them. "And it shall come to pass in that
day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the hea-
vens, and they shall hear the earth ; and the earth shall
hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil ; and they
shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the
earth ; and I will have mercy upon her that had not
obtained mercy ; and I will say to them which were
not my people, Thou art my people, and they shall
say, Thou art my God." (Hos. ii. 21— 23 ) It is in
vain for the men of Jezreel to expect the corn, and
oil, and fruits of the earth, if the Lord restrain the
clouds of heaven and the rain, that they withhold
their fatness. It is in vain for the earth to cry to
the heavens to send the rain, if the Lord of heaven
gives not his commands to the clouds to answer
the wants of nature. But if the Lord puts the cry
in the heavens above, and in the hearts of his re-
deemed below, and he that puts the cry comes forth
to answer it in mercy, then all these blessed effects
follow each other as the prophet hath described.
And as in nature, so in grace, the Lord sends show-
ers of grace upon his inheritance when they are
weary, from the blessed cause he here assigns : I
will say to them, Thou art my people ; and they
shall say, Thou art my God."
We hear often mention made in the Scriptures
concerning the first rain, and the latter rain, in their
season, (Deut. xi. 14.) — and, no doubt, there was
somewhat particularly suited and seasonable in
both. The Hebrews called those rains by different
names. The first, or former rain, they called Jorah,
which came in the autumn, because in their cal-
733
dilation the Jews began their year at that season.
The latter rain was in the spring of the year, and
this they called Malkush, which is supposed to be
the peculiar and special refreshment for the dry
earth. Moses, the man of God, prepared the minds
of the people for those blessings in Canaan, as to-
kens of divine favour, by putting the people in
mind of their past labour in Egypt. For though the
river Nile, which the Egyptians prided themselves
so much upon, did indeed overflow the banks
of it at certain seasons, yet the higher and remote
ground from it could not be benefited thereby ; and
therefore the inhabitants were obliged occasionally
to water their ground, in order to render it fruit-
ful. Moses prepares Israel, therefore, for the
Lord's special blessing over them in this particular
when they get into Canaan. " For the land (saith
Moses) whither thou goest in to possess it, is not
as the land of Egypt from whence ye came out,
where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with
thy foot, as a garden of herbs. But the land whi-
ther ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and val-
lies, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven ; a
land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes
of the Lord thy God are alway upon it, from the
beginning of the year even unto the end of the year."
(Deut. xi. 10—12.)
I cannot dismiss this view of the former and
latter rain without first calling upon the reader to
notice a passage in the writings of Hosea, where,
if I mistake not, the Holy Ghost, by his servant the
prophet, hath blessedly made those springs and
autumns of the rain beautifully descriptive of the
person and visits of Jesus. "Then shall we know,
if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is
prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto
us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto
734
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the earth." (Hos. vi. 3.) If the reader will consult
the Bible, from whence these words are taken, he
will discover, what the whole context proves, that
what is here said is spoken of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Indeed it could be said of no other. And
he will discover also, that that little word if \s in
italics, to intimate that it is not in the original ;
and therefore the coming of the Lord as the morn-
ing, is not made to depend upon our i/s, but is the
sole result of his own free grace. And surely no-
thing can be more beautiful and lovely inthe promise
of Jesus coming to his people, both in the early
and latter manifestations of his grace, than in the
resemblance here made of it to the genial influences
of the early and the latter rain. His goings forth
are prepared as the morning of eternity, and in the
morning of time, his first manifestations in grace, and
in all the after-seasons of his love, when visiting
his people. Who shall describe the sweet and
silent droppings of the rain, the dew from the
Lord, and the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth
"not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men I"
Who shall calculate their number, their richness,
their refreshing influence, coming from him who
"from the womb of the morniug hath the dew of his
youth ! " Who shall mark down the times and the
seasons in the unobserved, unnoticed, unknown
visits to all but to the souls of his redeemed, to
whom he imparts his blessings in secret, when
carrying on the sacred purposes of his " kingdom
which cometh not by observation." Surely every
redeemed soul that knoweth what these things
mean must be constrained to say with David ; " He
is as the light of the morning when the sun ariseth,
even a morning without clouds ; as the tender grass
springing out of the earth by clear shining after
rain." (2 Sam. xxiii. 4.) There are numberless
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735
other beauties in the Scriptures concerning divine
things, which are described under the similitude of
rain ; but I must not enlarge, and therefore can
only make reference to the Scriptures themselves.
(See Deut. xxxii. 2. Job xx. 22, 23. Ps. lxv. 10 ;
lxviii. 9; lxxii. 6; cxlvii. 8. Isa. xxx. 23 ; lv. 10.
Hos. x. 2. Acts xiv. 17.)
I cannot however refrain from making one obser-
vation more upon the subject of rain, though differ-
ing in quality from the ordinary rain to which in
this country we are accustomed. In that solemn
chapter in the book of Deuteronomy where Moses,
the man of God, is denouncing threatenings to
Israel's disobedience, we find this remarkable ex-
pression : " The Lord shall make the rain of thy
land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come
down upon thee until thou be destroyed." (Deut.
xxviii. 24.) The thing would not be so striking if it
referred to the hurricanes which sometimes take
place on the desarts of the East, where whole
caravans have been known to be covered over and
destroyed. But the particularity in this account of
Moses is, that the storm of powder and dust " shall
come down from heaven upon thee." I confess the
expression by a figure may be said to be from
heaven, even when the whirlwind is made by the
winds on the sand of the earth, because it is the
Lord's judgment : yet, I humbly conceive, some-
what more is meant by this rain of powder and dust
than the raising it from the earth. But in either
sense, or in both, the circumstance is alarming.
We see that the Lord can convert our very bless-
ings into curses ; and make those showers of rain,
which are essential and necessary to the very ex-
istence as well as the comfort of man, become
showers of powder and dust to destroy.
And here, reader, I beg again to point to the
736
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Lord Jesus Christ, who is as blessed to us against
this calamity as he is blessed to us in the showers of
rain, when he cometh to us as the " latter rain and as
the former rain upon the earth." The prophet was
commissioned by the Holy Ghost to point him out
under the beautiful similitude of a shelter to his
people, when he said : " And a man (or the man
Christ Jesus) shall be as an hiding place from the
storm, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of
water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great
rock in a weary land." (Isa. xxxii.) Jesus is all this
and infinitely more, when the storm of sin raiseth
up the powder and dust of our corrupt nature, and
threatens to swallow us up in everlasting destruc-
tion. And while he protects from wrath, he com-
forts with his refreshments of grace ; and is not
only a covert from the wind, but like rivers of
water to the soul, which satisfy the thirsty desires,
as travellers in a desert when they find a sweet
spring in the way. See Dew.
RAINBOW. I know not how it is, but so it is, as if
by natural instinct, as often as I see that beautiful
arch in the heavens called the rainbow, I call to
mind what Jehovah once said after the deluge : " I
do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token
of a covenant between me and the earth : and it shall
come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And 1 will
remember my covenant which is between me and
you, and every living creature of all flesh : and the
waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all
flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud ; and I
will look upon it, that 1 may remember the ever-
lasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." (Gen.
ix. 13 — 1G.) As oft therefore as I behold the rain-
bow, I consider the graciousness of the Lord's
737
renewed token of this covenant; and I consider
also the high privilege in looking in one and the
same moment to the same object to which my God
is looking. There is somewhat in this peculiarly
blessed. And moreover, when I call to mind, what
the beloved apostle John saw when heaven was
opened to his view, "the rainbow round about the
throne," (Rev. iv. 3.) and also that mighty angel
whom he saw with a " rainbow upon his head,"
(Rev. x. 1.) I confess I feel great delight. For I
cannot but conclude, that the bow Jehovah set in
the cloud after the deluge, and the rainbow John
saw in heaven round about the throne, and encir-
cling or covering the head of the mighty angel, were
all to the same purport, and all representing Christ.
For surely Jesus is himself the covenant Jehovah
hath made with our nature in the person of his
dear Son. Notwithstanding, therefore, what some
men tell us of the physical causes by which the rain-
bow, they say, is produced, yet still I desire to look
at it as the result of higher purposes in grace, and
to behold it in every renewed view as the sweet
and glorious token Jehovah hangs out in the
heavens of Jehovah's covenant in Christ. Men
who study nature may see God in the works of na-
ture ; and they who study providences may see God in
the works of his providences ; but they who study
the works of grace, when taught of God, will disco-
ver Christ in the whole of those great designs, and
behold the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ !
RAKEM. Son of Shiresh. (1 Chron. vii. 16.) If de-
rived from Rakah, the name means empty or vain.
RAKKATH. A city of Naphtali. ( Josh. xix. 35.)
From Rakah empty.
RAKKON. A city of Dan. (Josh. xix. 49.)
RAM. Son of Hezron. (1 Chron. ii. 9.) There was
VOL. VI. 3 B
738
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another Ram, from whom sprung Elihu. (Job xxxii.
2.) Perhaps from Ramah, lifted up.
RAMAH. There was a Ramah, a city of Benjamin,
near Bethel. (Josh, xviii. 25.) And there was a
Ramah, called Rama-thaim-Zophim, in mount Eph-
raim, where Elkanah and Hannah, Samuel the pro-
phet's parents, lived. (See 1 Sam. i. 19.) And yet
it is very possible, that both these might be but one
and the same Ramah ; for the frontiers of Benjamin
and Ephraim joined each other. And as Ramah
means a hill, and Zophim is the plural of Zoph,
to behold, it is possible the place of Samuel's dwell-
ing might be called Rama-thaim-Zophim, the two
hills of beholding.
RAMIAH. — Or more properly Ram-jah. One who
returned from Babylon, (Ezra x. 25.) The com-
pound makes the name, raised up of the Lord.
RAMOTH GILEAD. A city in the mountain of
Gilead. In Josh. xv. 26, it is called Ramoth-mizpeh ;
that is, the watch tower. This was one of the cities
of refuge. (Deut. iv. 43.) It became the subject and
occasion of much war in the after-days of the kings.
(1 Kings xxii. 2 Kings, chap. viii. and ix.) There
was a son of Bani called Ramoth. (Ezra x. 29.)
RAMS- HORNS. We read of rams-horns made use
of by Joshua's army, at the command of the Lord,
in the destruction of Jericho. (Josh. vi. 4, 5.) An
English reader, in the perusal of this Scripture, will
unavoidably connect in his ideas the ordinary horns
of the ram with which he is acquainted. But this
would be erroneous. No doubt, we have borrowed
the word Ram from the original Hebrew ; but have
very differently applied it. The word Ram, in the
Hebrew, signifies somewhat that is raised up, ele-
vated, or exalted. Probably the horns made use
of at the siege of Jericho were the wild bull's, from
his height and size ; and if not the bull's, it might
R A
be of the beve kind. But be this as it may, no
doubt there was a sweet and gracious instruction
intended from the use of such feeble instruments,
to teach the church in all ages, that as there was
no comparison between the weapon and the work,
the church should be always looking off from them-
selves, in order to be always eyeing the Lord. His
is the work, and his the glory. But over and above
this very obvious instruction, I venture to think
that in the appointment of those horns there was
somewhat in allusion to the Lord Jesus. I hope
the Lord will pardon me if I err. But when we
consider what an eminent type of Christ Joshua
was, we may expect every thing connected with his
ministry may be supposed to bear some reference
to him. Moses, as a type of the law he was the
minister of, could not bring the children of God
into Canaan. The law never did ; it never was de-
signed for that purpose, for it is the ministration of
death. This was reserved for Joshua, whose very
name is the same with Jesus. And if we find Joshua
entering on his ministry with the instruments of
rams-horns, may we not, yea, must we not connect
with it what is said of Jesus as the horn of salvation
to his people, which Jehovah promised to raise up ?
Luke i. 69. Let the reader connect with this view
what Moses, in his dying moments, when the spirit
of prophecy was upon him, spake of Joseph typical
of the Lord Jesus Christ ; " His glory (said he) is
like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are
like the horns of unicorns ; with them he shall push
the people together to the ends of the earth ; and
they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the
thousands of Manasseh." (Deut. xxxiii. 17.) And
Habakkuk, under the same spirit of prophecy,
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, (chap. iii. 4.) as
having horns coming out of his hand, and there was
3 b 2
740
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the hiding of his power. I would not speak pre-
sumptuously on this or any other subject connected
with matters of such infinite moment ; but as the
Lord Jesus Christ is the visible Jehovah in our
nature for all the purposes of redemption, and as
every part of the Bible testifies thatthe grand design
of all revelation is to exalt him, I humbly conceive
that it is of Jesus wholly the Holy Ghost is conti-
nually speaking in all the great events connected
with his church and people.
RANSOM. This word is used several times in Scrip-
ture to denote the immense price the Lord Jesus
gave for the purchase of his people. He saith him-
self, (Matt. xx. 28.) " The son of man came to give
his life a ransom for many." And his servant the
apostle saith, (1 Tim. ii. 6.) "Who gave himself a
ransom for all to be testified in due time." And
to heighten the subject, beyond all possible concep-
tion, of the greatness of the value, Peter was com-
missioned to tell the church that "they were, not re-
deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb
without blemish and without spot." (1 Pet. i. 18, 19.)
And the Psalmist brings in his testimony to the
same amount, (Ps. xlix. 7, 8.) " None can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom
for him : for the redemption of his soul is precious,
and it ceaseth for ever." But to shew, at the same
time, that what the Lord Jesus gave was fully equal,
yea, more than equal to the vast purchase, the Holy
Ghost, in the book of Job, introduceth Jehovah as
speaking concerning the redeemed sinner, "Deliver
him from going down to the pit, I have found a
ransom." (Job xxxiii. 24.) And hence, in proof
that this one offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
once for all, hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified, the prophet Isaiah is appointed to describe
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741
the happy effects of redemption in the everlasting-
salvation of all Christ's people. " The ransomed of
the Lord (saith he) shall return, and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ;
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall flee away." (Isa. x\xv. 10.)
I hope the reader will indulge me with one short
observation on the subject of Jesus giving himself
a ransom for his people. Never in all the annals
of mankind was there ever heard of such unpa-
ralleledlove. Suppose some generous prince, out of
compassion to any of his captive subjects, were to
abridge his pleasures, and give large sums of money
to bring them out of captivity — how would the deed
be applauded, and his name be idolized to all gene-
rations ! But supposing this generous prince was
to give himself for them, and exchange their persons
in slavery by voluntarily surrendering up himself to
such a state — what would be said of this ? And yet
the Lord Jesus hath done this, and infinitely more,
not for friends, but enemies, not for those who loved
him, but those who hatedhim ; and not only by slavery,
but by death. He hath died for them, washed them
in his blood, brought them out of slavery and the
shadow of death, and hath broke their bonds asun-
der, and purchased for them an endless state of
happiness, and is gone before to take possession of
it in their name, and will come again to receive
them to himself, that where he is there they may be
also. " Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O
earth, for the Lord hath done it!"
RAPHA. Benjamin's fifth son was called by this
name, 1 Chron. viii. 2— And Binea had a son called
Rap.ha, I Chron. viii. 37. The name means medicine
or healing.
RAPHAEL or REPHAEL. Son of Shemaiah,
742
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(1 Chron. xxvi. 7.) The name is a compound of
Rapha and El, medicine, or remedy of God.
RAPHAIMS. (Gen. xiv. 5.) Those were probably the
same as Moses takes notice of Deut. ii. 10, 11, there
called Emims, a people great and tall, which in
times past, it is said, were called giants, as the
Anakims ; but the Moabites called them Emims.
Rapha means giant, consequently Raphaim makes
it plural giants. In the margin of the Bible,
(2 Sam. xxi. 18,20.) to the name of giant in each
verse Rapha is preserved.
RAVEN. The raven is classed among the unclean
by the law, (Lev. xi. 15.) Notwithstanding, we have
an account in Scripture of the ministry of this bird
upon two remarkable occasions. The former from
the ark of Noah, (Gen. viii. 7.) and the other feeding
the prophet Elijah at the brook Cherith. (1 Kings
xvii. 4 — 6.) Some have supposed that the word
Orebim, which our translators render ravens, means
the inhabitants of Oreb, near to Bethshan. But in
this case the prophet would not have been hid ; and
this was the reason wherefore the Lord bid him go
to Cherith. Besides, if any human beings brought
the prophet bread and flesh, so they might also
water. But the Scriptures have uniformly held
forth this history of Elijah as miraculous, which
would not have been the case but in the supposi-
tion of his being fed by ravens. The church sets
forth the headship and beauties of her husband
Christ under the similitude of the fine lustre of the
gold, and the rich black shining gloss of the raven.
u His head is as the most fine gold ; his locks are
bushy and black as a raven." (Song v. 11.) And to
those who know Christ, and eye him as the Head
of his body the church, he is all this, and infinitely
more.
REAJ AH. Son of Shobel. (1 Chron. iv. 2.) There
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743
was another of this name,the son of Mi<*ali. (1 Chron.
v. 5.) Compounded of Rea, or Raah, to see — and
Jah, Lord.
REBA. One of the five kings of Midian slain by
Israel. (See Num. xxxi. 8.) His name is from Rub
to quarrel.
REBEKAH. Daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of
Isaac. (Gen. xxiv.) Her history we have at large in
Genesis. Her name, if from Rabah, means fat.
REBEL and REBELS. I beg the reader's indul-
gence while giving to him my sense and apprehen-
sion of the Scriptural meaning of rebel and rebels.
If I err, I pray the Lord to forgive me, and to
preserve the reader from following my opinion.
I humbly conceive that by the term, in the lan-
guage of Scripture, is meant reprobate ; and
therefore is never used in application to any of
God's children. In confirmation of this opinion, I
beg the reader to consult all the places in
Scripture where the word occurs ; and these, as
far as I recollect, are only five, namely, Num. xvii.
10 ; xx. 10. Jer. 1. 21 — in the margin of the Bible,
Ezek. ii.6 ; and xx.38. Now the reader will discover,
that in every one of those instances, excepting one,
namely, Num. xx. 10. (and that one, as I shall
hereafter endeavour to shew, becomes the greatest
instance in confirmation of my opinion) the term
is invariably made use of in reference to repro-
bates.
It should seem by the term rebels, in those pas-
sages of Scripture, the Holy Ghost intended to
mark the children of the wicked one, by way of
distinction, from the children of the kingdom : hence
the word is similar to that of traitor. And we
read of no traitor in the word of God but the traitor
Judas, who is said to have fallen by transgression,
that he might go to his own place, (Acts i. 25.) his
744
own proper place, his birth-right. So Balaam said
of himself : " I go, said he to Balak, unto my peo-
ple." And what that place and that people implied,
the Scriptures, in other parts, explain. Christ
speaking of this very tratior Judas, saith of him,
u It had been good for that man if he had not been
born." (Matt. xxvi. 24.) And Jude, speaking of
all such, calls them ungodly men, " who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation." (Jude iv.)
And Paul speaks of similar characters under the
general term of traitors, (2 Tim. iii. 4.) So that
Judas and his company, the reprobate, are the
only traitors we meet with in the word of God ;
and in this sense rebels and traitors are one and the
same.
It will be said perhaps in answer to this statement,
that the Lord frequently calls his children rebel-
lious children, and pronounceth a woe against them.
(See Isa. xxx. 1, &c. To which I answer, Yes ;
the Lord most certainly doth so ; but there is a vast
distinction between rebellious children and rebels.
A child may be, and God's children all are by
nature, rebellious ; and even when in grace too
frequently rebellious again ; but still, though re-
bellious, they are children, and not rebels. Rebels
they never were, nor of the seed of the serpent.
The Holy Ghost himself hath made this precious
distinction when, by his servant John, he points
out in the instances of Cain and Abel the mighty
difference. " Not as Cain, (saith he) who was of
that wicked one, and slew his brother." (1 John
iii. 12.) And hence when the Lord promiseth to
separate his people from among the reprobate, he
expresseth himself by those striking words : " And
I will purge out from among you the rebels, and
them that transgress against me ; I will bring them
forth out of the country where they sojourn, and
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745
they shall not enter into the land of Israel, and ye
shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezek. xx. 38.)
And with respect to the woe the Lord pronoun-
ceth against his rebellious children, every one who
reads his Bible with attention, under the Holy
Ghost's teaching, will discover that this woe is all
of a temporal nature, and hath respect only to
chastisements. In confirmation, I beg the reader
to consult the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah, where this
woe is spoken of most particularly. The prosecu-
tion of that chapter is the fullest proof of it ; for
after the Lord had said that the woe of his people
should be, to find their punishment in the very
things from which they sought protection and help,
the Lord declares that he still waits to be gracious,
and that his people should be blessed. And from
the eighteenth verse to the close of the chapter,
the Lord shews his graciousness to his people, by
favour to them, and destruction to their enemies.
Though I have largely trespassed under this
article, yet I must still detain the reader with one
observation more to fulfil my promise, by shewing,
as I proposed, that the one only place in Scripture
where the Lord's children are called rebels was
misapplied, and in that misapplication of the name,
and the Lord's displeasure in consequence on this
occasion, becomes in my view the highest confir-
mation of the whole. The case I refer to is Num.
xx. 10. I beg the reader to turn to the chapter,
and read the whole passage from the first to the
thirteenth verse. When the reader hath made his
own observations upon it, let him turn to the one
hundred and sixth Psalm, and hear what God the
Holy Ghost saith upon it, ver. 32, 33. Let him
then ask, (for I presume not to determine upon it,)
what was the particular sin of Moses on this occa-
sion ? Perhaps the unhallowed manner of joining
746
himself with the Lord, when he said, must we fetch
water out of this rock? Perhaps the smiting- the
rock twice, when but once on the former occasion,
at the Lord's command, was done, Exod. xvii. 6.
But might there not be an offence also in calling the
Lord's heritage rebels ? Let the reader remember
I do but ask the question, and not decide. But
when we recollect how jealous the Lord is of his
glory, how dearly he prizeth his people, calling
them his portion, his jewels, his treasure, surely it
is but reasonable to suppose that Moses herein of-
fended also. If, as our Lord Jesus in after-ages
taught, that whosoever should say to his brother
Raca, or fool, (Matt. v. 22.) a terra implying a child
of hell, should be in danger of hell-fire, we may
conclude that when Moses called God's children
rebels, or children of hell, there was great sin in it.
Reader, pause ! If this opinion be at all founded
in right, think, how precious the Lord's people are
in his sight !
RECHAB. There are several of this name in Scrip-
ture ; but he that is most recommended to our
attention by the Holy Ghost, is he who by his
rules to his family gave an honourable testimony to
the house of the Rechabites ; and which is handed
down to us of this house.
RECHAH. We have an account of the men of Re-
chah, 1 Chron. iv. 12. But how employed, or to
what service the house of Rechah was engaged, is
not said.
REDEEMER. One of the blessed names of our
Lord Jesus Christ : and sweetly doth the Holy
Ghost bear witness to it — " For thy Maker is thine
husband, the Lord of hosts is his name : and thy
Redeemer the Holy One of Israel ; the God of the
whole earth shall he be called." (Isa. liv. 5.)
In considering the peculiarity of this character of
RE
747
Christ, so as to endear him to the heart of his peo-
ple, it will be sufficient to observe that what con-
stitutes redemption, in the entire accomplishment
of it, could be wrought by none but Christ himself.
It is the personal and peculiar fitness of the Lord
Jesus to the office of Redeemer, that forms the
special greatness and importance of the work itself ;
for if it could be shewn, or ever supposed, that any
other beside Christ had been competent, it would
have lessened the diguity, the personal dignity,
and glory of the Son of God, and reduced the infi-
nite value of redemption itself. But as none but
the Son of God could perform it, so in that perform-
ance the value and efficacy of it is heightened
beyond all the conceptions the imagination can form
of it.
We shall set this in a clear point of view, if we
consider what forms the great and leading charac-
ters of redemption, in the contemplation of which
the glory of Christ will appear abundantly striking
as the great Redeemer.
And first, the very idea of redemption is to buy
out, or deliver, what was lost or forfeited, and this
by giving a full and equivalent value for it. Thus
when Abraham made a purchase of a burying-place
from the sons of Heth, it is said that he weighed
and gave " four hundred shekels of silver, current
money of the merchant." (Gen. xxiii. 16.) Now
such was the redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ
of our nature. He gave what might be called
current money, that is, a full and rich equivalent :
yea, more than an equivalent, when for the sins and
transgressions of his people he paid for it with the
price of his blood. (See I Pet. i. 18, 19.)
But the great work of redemption did not rest
here. Jesus by his merciful undertaking not only re-
deemed us from sin, in buying out our mortgaged
748
and forfeited inheritance, but he redeemed our
long lost privileges. We were not only justly ex-
posed by nature, and by practice, to the wrath and
displeasure of Almighty God, but our whole nature
was under the dominion and influence of sin; and
none short of Christ could buy us out. The Son of
God, therefore, by price and by power accom-
plished both those purposes of salvation ; and not
only delivered us from the wrath to come, but
brought us into the privileges of a purchased inhe-
ritance. Yea, he induced in us a new nature, in
taking away the natural enmity of our hearts, and
making us u willing in the day of his power."
And lastly, having delivered us from all evil,
and brought us into all good, he hath accomplished
the whole purposes of redemption, so as to obtain
favour and peace with God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Such are the outlines of redemption, and such
the wonderful work which the Son of God hath in
our nature accomplished by his blood ! And what
tends to endear the Lord Jesus Christ yet infinitely
more under his character of Redeemer is, that in
the whole of this immense transaction all he hath
accomplished is in our nature. It is the man whose
name is the Branch, it is Jesus, who in his human
nature is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
that hath wrought out salvation. So that both re-
demption itself, and the glorious person by whom it
is brought, gives a double relish to all the purposes
of it, and lifts the heart to all the acts of adoration
and praise to the great Author of our felicity. Hail !
I would say, thou great and Almighty Redeemer
and benefactor of mankind !
REDEMPTION OF THE FIRST-BORN. See
this subject largely treated under the article First
Born.
R E 749
RED HEIFER. Among all the laws of the Levitical
priesthood concerning sacrifices, there is hardly
one more striking in all the particulars of it as re-
ferring to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and yet there is
not one so generally little understood, or attended
to. I beg the reader's attention to it as a subject
highly interesting. He will find the account of it
set forth at large, Num. xix. from the first verse to
the tenth. Moses was commanded to speak unto
the children of Israel to bring a red heifer without
spot, wherein was no blemish, and upon which
never came yoke. Eleazer the priest was to bring
her forth without the camp, and one was to slay her
before his face. Eleazer was then to take of her
blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood
directly before the tabernacle of the congregation
seven times. One was then to burn the heifer in his
sight ; her skin, her flesh, and her blood, with her
dung, all was to be burnt. Then the priest was to
take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast
it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then
the priest was to wash his clothes, and to bathe his
flesh in water, and afterward he was to come into
the camp, and be unclean until the even. And he
that burned the heifer was to wash his clothes in
water, and bathe his flesh in water, and be unclean
until the even. And a man that was clean was to
gather the ashes of the heifer and lay them up
without the camp in a clean place, to be kept for the
congregation of the children of Israel for a water
of separation : it is a purification for sin. And this
was to be both to the children of Israel, and the
stranger that sojourned among them, for a statute
for ever.
Such are the interesting particulars in the Lord's
appointment of the sacrifice of the red heifer. I
would now beg to call the reader's attention to the
750
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service itself, in order to remark the prominent
features of the ordinance, as typical of the person
and offering of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And first, the heifer was to be red. A most un-
likely thing- to obtain, as if to prefigure the singu-
larity of the person of Jesus ; for none but the
Lord Christ could be suited for our salvation : and
the personal fitness of Jesus, in the singularity of
his person and character, is that which endears him
so highly to his people. Perhaps the reader may
not know, or if he doth, he may not immediately re-
collect, that Adam was called Adam, or Adamah,
on account of the red earth or dust from whence he
was taken. Pure virgin earth is naturally red. Now
the Lord Jesus is also called the last Adam. (ICor.
xv. 45.) And it is said of him, with peculiar refe-
rence to his human nature, that "forasmuch as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same." (Heb.
ii. 14.) And hence the church sings of him in the
joy of her heart, " My beloved (said she) is white
and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand." (Song
v. 10.)
Secondly, this red heifer was to be without spot^
and wherein there was no blemish. Whatcould more
strikingly depicture the features of him "who with-
out spot offered himself to God !" He was indeed,
as the Holy Ghost hath drawn him, "holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens." (Heb. vii. 26.) We are told
that the Jews were so very tenacious that this
heifer should be exactly corresponding to the
ordinance in those particulars, that if the animal
had but a spot of different colour from the red, yea,
but in a single hair, it was rejected. Surely no-
thing could be more in reference to the " lamb of
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God who was without blemish and without spot,"
(1 Pet. i. 19.)
Thirdly, that particularity of the red heifer in the
Jewish church, that it should be one upon which
there never came yoke, is of all others the most
striking-, as typical of Christ; and the more so, be-
cause, among- all the sacrifices under the law, it is
the only one we ever meet with of such an appoint-
ment. There was no yoke, no obligation, upon
Christ, but his own freewill, for which he became a
sacrifice for his people. For although he glorified
not himself to be either an high priest, or sacrifice,
uncalled and unsent of God, yet equally certain it
is, that without his own voluntary offering he could
not have suited the purpose of our redemption.
Hence he saith himself, (John x. 17, 18.) u There-
fore doth my Father love me because I lay down
my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself ; I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again. This commandment have I received of my
Father."
Fourthly, the heifer, to signify uncleanness, was
" slain without the camp." And Jesus, that he
"might sanctify the people with his own blood, suf-
fered without the gate." The apostle makes a
most beautiful, persuasive and unanswerable appeal
to the church, in this view of Jesus, when he saith,
" Let us go forth therefore unto him without the
camp, bearing his reproach f (Heb, xiii. 12, 13.)
Fifthly, when the heifer had been slain, the
blood was to be sprinkled directly before the ta-
bernacle seven times. And it forms an express doc-
trine of the cross, the blood of sprinkling. As the
tabernacle represented the whole church of Jesus,
so all his people are supposed to be brought
under the cleansing by the blood of Christ. Be-
752
RE
lievers are said to have received the atonement.
(Rom. v. 11.) Hence Paul, speaking of the pri-
vilege of the church, saith, "Ye are come to the
blood of sprinkling." The blood of the heifer shed
was not sufficient ; it must be sprinkled. The blood
of Christ is not only shed, but sprinkled, speaking
peace from God to the sinner, and speaking of
covenant faithfulness to God, in the infinite fulness
of Christ's merits. Seven times performing the
sprinkling of the blood of the heifer may probably
mean, as Scripture numbers sometimes do, an in-
definite number for a definite, by way of shewing
the importance of it. The number seven is certainly
used in Scripture with peculiar honour. The seven
days of creation, the seventh day for the Sabbath,
the seven times seven for the Sabbatical or Jubilee
year, and the seventh day becoming an emblem
of the everlasting Sabbath of heaven ; all these are
very high evidences of the peculiar honour con-
ferred on the number. But no special reason other-
wise that I know of is given in the word of God for
the consecration of seven to sacred things.
Sixthly, the heifer was to be wholly burnt, no
part nor portion exempted. So Christ is a whole Sa-
viour. They that are looking to him for salvation
must wholly look. * Is Christ divided ?" saith the
apostle. The completeness of acceptance in Jesus
renders it essentially necessary that his people
should look only to him, for the everlasting accept-
ance of their persons in him. " If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Gal.
ii. 21.)
Seventhly, the whole congregation are said to be
alike interested in this heifer, both in providing
it, and in the enjoyment of the privileges of it. So
the Lord Jesus is said " to have given himself a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Tim.
ii. 6.) And as we do not read in any other part of
R E 753
this ordinance being appointed to be observed bat
once, so nothing could more blessedly point out the
everlasting efficacy of that u one offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once offered, whereby he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb,
x. 14.)
The Jews have a tradition, that this one heifer,
with the ashes of the water of purification, lasted for
near a thousand years, until the time of the capti-
vity. But of this we have no Scriptural authority.
It is sufficient for Christians to behold Christ both
preached to the ear, and set forth to the eye, in
type and figure, under the law. And it is doubly
blessed, under the gospel, to behold the whole
fulfilled in the person, blood, and righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord give his people
grace, while beholding the law as having "a
shadow of good things to come," to know that
Christ is the substance, and that Christ is indeed
"the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth ! "
REED. We read of Ezekiel's reed, Ezek. xl. 3.
which was six cubits and three inches ; that is,
about three yards and a little more of our English
measure. But the word is not unfrequently used
in Scripture figuratively. Thus Egypt, on account
of her inability to help Israel, is called a reed.
(2 Kings xviii. 21.) Humble believers in Christ
are called bruised reeds ; concerning which it is
blessedly spoken of the Lord Jesus, u that he will
not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking
flax" — meaning, that the tender and frail mind in
the first awakenings of grace, though it be unable
of itself to stand no more than the bruised reed
Jesus will not break, but support ; and the warmth
of affection in the regenerated soul, though it hath
no flame, and only sends forth the risings like the
vol. vi. 3 c
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smoke of burning flax, Jesus will not suffer to be
put out. It is in both a day of small things ; but it
is a day Jesus will not despise. He will raise the
bruised reed to a great tree, like the cedar of Le-
banon, and he will kindle a flame in the smoking
flax, that by his perpetual quickening shall burn
with great power and brightness for ever. (See
Isa. xlii. Matt. xii. 18 — 20.) We read of a reed
put into our Lord's hand, in the hall of Pilate, by
way of mock royalty ; but this it should seem to
have been of the rod kind. (Matt, xxvii. 29.) How
little did they think that both the crown of thorns
and the reed, were emblems of the Lord Jesus's
character as the Messiah. Never was there any
but Jesus crowned with thorns ; for though all his
people feel the briars and the thorns, yet it was he,
and he only, on whom and in whom the sentence at
the fall was to be completely fulfilled. u Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." (Gen.
iii. 18.) And little did they think that when they
had crowned him with thorns, and put the reed in
his right hand, Jehovah had that day set him for his
king upon his holy hill of Zion. What a beautiful
observation the apostles made upon the whole of
these events, Acts iv. 24 — 31.
REELAIAH. One of the priests which returned to
Jerusalem from the captivity of Babylon, Ezra ii. 2.
Probably the name is derived from Rahal, astonish-
ment— and Jah, the Lord.
REFUGE. This word is of very plain and obvious
signification ; and it is blessed to see in the Scrip-
tures of truth how sweetly accommodating all the
persons of the Godhead are brought home to the
believer's heart under the figurative language
of refuge. Hence in allusion to God the Father,
Moses was commissioned to tell the church this grand
and all-supporting truth — " The eternal God is thy
refuge ; and underneath are the everlasting arms :
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and he shall thrust out the enemy before thee, and
shall say, Destroy them." (Deut. xxxiii. 27.) And
the Lord Jesus Christ is the immediate refuge of
his people, for he is said to be their hiding place
and their covert from the storm and tempest. And
how truly blessed is it to discover, that in his person,
blood, and righteousness, as the glorious Head and
Mediator of his redeemed, they are secretly and
securely hid with Christ in God ; so that neither
law nor justice, sin nor Satan, death nor hell, the
world nor the grave, can come to injure them. (Ps.
xxxii. 7. Isa. xxxii. 2.) And no less so is God the
eternal Spirit, in his own sovereign power and God-
head ; for he by his gracious influences stampsthe
whole authority of redemption on the hearts of his
people, gives them his earnest of the promised
possession, and effectually seals their souls unto
the day of redemption. (2 Cor. v. 5. Eph. i. 13.)
Under this article of refuge, it will be proper to
notice those cities of refuge, which the Lord
appointed under the Old Testament dispensation,
as a shelter for the manslayer who unintentionally
killed another, and hated him not in times past
If the reader will consult the Scriptures which relate
to those cities of refuge he will find a very ample
account Num. xxxv.9. to the end ; Deut. xix 1, —
13. Josh. xx. throughout. And when he hath read
the several particulars there recorded, he will dis-
cover that those cities of refuge were wholly intend-
ed to screen the unitentional murderer. And so
exact was the law to be regarded, that on the poor
fugitive's arrival at the suburbs of either of those
cities, the congregation was to proceed on the
subject of enquiry ; and if any malice prepense was
found in the mind towards the person he had mur-
dered, the law enjoined that he should be taken
even from the altar, and be put to death.
3c 2
756
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And this security, even to the unintentional mur-
derer, continued only while he remained in the city
of refuge ; for if he was found without the suburbs,
the avenger of blood might by law kill him.
We are informed thatthe Israelites were somuch
interested in following up the divine commands con-
cerning those cities of refuge, that the magistrates
once in every year made a point to examine the roads
leading to those cities from every direction, and to
have them put in perfect repair, that no obstruction
might be found to stop the fugitive in his flight
from the avenger of blood pursuing him. And it
is said, that at every opening there was placed a di-
rection-post with the word Miklat upon it, (meaning
refuge) as if to say, this is the way to the city of
refuge. A beautiful type of the ministers of our
God, who are supposed to be always as watchmen
upon the walls of Zion crying aloud to sinners,
murderers of their own souls, u to flee unto Christ
as a refuge to lay hold of, and as an anchor to the
soul both sure and stedfast within the vail." (Heb.
vi. 18, 19.)
There was somewhat very significant in the
names of those cities, and it is not fanciful to remark
their allusion to the purpose for which they were
appointed. They are called Kedesh, Shechem,
Kirjoth-arba, or Hebron. These were on this side
Jordan. And on the other side, by Jericho east-
ward, there was Bezer in the wilderness of Ramoth
in Gilead, and Golan in Bashan.
If, as we cannot but conclude from all the other
parts of Scripture/ that as every thing under the
law typified the Lord Jesus Christ, so these cities
of refuge had an eye to him, as the only shelter for
soul-murderers, then we shall find somewhat re-
markable in the names of those cities. Kedesh
which signifies holy, was a beautiful memorandum
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757
of him concerning whom the Holy Ghost saith, by
the apostle, Heb. vii. 26. "Such an High Priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separ-
ate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
Shechem is the Hebrew for shoulder, or of one
consent." And it is so translated in the margin of
the Bible in Zeph. Hi. 9. which see. And it is no
violence to the expression to make application of
this word to him whose government was declared
to be upon his shoulder, Isa. ix. 6. One of the
old writers, Raphelius, makes a very striking ob-
servation concerning this expression of the govern-
ment being said to be upon Christ's shoulder;
because said he we carry burdens on our shoulders,
therefore Christ is said to carry his. And this he
did when he became the Almighty burden-bearer of
the sins of his people. The third name of those
cities of refuge, Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron.
(Kirjath-arba means the city of four, from Arba,
four) Hebron signifies unity, fellowship, concord,
or the like. And when sinners are brought into an
union with Jesus, they are said to M have fellowship
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."
(1 John i. 3.)
And the names of the three cities on the other
side of Jordan were not less striking in allusion to
Christ. Bezer or Bazar was used for a market-
place among the Eastern nations in after-ages ; and
Betzer meant an inclosure : so that in either sense
the word is striking. As the man-slayer found in
this city of refuge a blessed exchange, and a safe
inclosure, both under one, so soul-murderers, when
taking shelter in Christ, barter their sins for his
righteousness, and find peace and safety in
the blood of his cross. So Ramoth and Golan both
read with an eye to Jesus, as they express exalta-
tion and joy, may be supposed to imply the raising
768
up of the depressed spirits of a sinner when fleeing
to Christ for refuge, and finding him all he stands
in need of, as well as that "joy and peace in belie-
ving, when abounding in hope through the power of
the Holy Ghost."
It is very blessed in reading the Old Testament
Scripture, to discover in every part of it so much of
the New. And when we are enabled, by the sweet
teaching of the Holy Ghost, to discern Christ thus
preached to our fathers in type and figure, what an
infinite importance do such views tend to convey,
when we find both in law and prophets every mi-
nute circumstance pointing to him who is u the end
of the law for righteousness to every one that be-
lieveth."
REGEM. The son of Jahdai, 1 Chron. ii. 47. If
derived from Ragam, the name means he that
stones."
REGEM-MELECH. One of the men sent to the
house of God to enquire about the days of the fast,
Zech. vii. 2. Who this man was doth not seem
clear: not an Israelite, I should think, for the name
is of the Chaldeans, and means to stone the king.
Melek, king — and Regem, to stone.
REGENERATION. This is the word, and the doc-
trine connected with it, which hath been, and ever
will be, a stumbling-block to the whole world of
mere natural men, who receive not the things of
the "Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
them, neither can they know them, because they
are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.)
The carnal mind, in every age of the church,
hath been disposed to receive the doctrine of re-
generation as a mere figure of speech. They are
unable to explain it upon any principles of their
own, and therefore wish of all things to class it
under the character of metaphor or parable. But
759
it will be found to all the unawakened and unre-
generated in eternity an awful reality to them. I
well remember to have heard it said concerning a
prelate of the highest rank in the establishment,
who in the close of life expressed himself on this
subject in these very solemn words : u I have read
(said he) much on the doctrine of regeneration,
and I have heard much upon it ; I should hope, it
is after all, but a mere figure of speech ; but if it
be a real truth, I can only say, that 1 know nothing
of it in my own experience." What a dreadful con-
fession this for a man in his dying hours !
Our blessed Lord, who brought life and immor-
tality to light by his Gospel, brought this doctrine
of regeneration also, as a fundamental part of that
Gospel, to the full and complete testimony of it in
his conversation with Nicodemus the Jew. (John
iii. 1 — 21.) I beg the reader to pay a close atten-
tion to this blessed Scripture, looking up to God
the Holy Ghost to render it plain and intelligible ;
and, under his divine teaching, the doctrine itself
cannot fail to appear in its true light.
The holy Scriptures, with one voice, declare, that
man by the fall of Adam lost all apprehension of
the divine nature ; he became virtually dead in
trespasses and sins : so that the recovery from hence
could only be effected by the quickening influences
of the Holy Ghost. Hence every son and daughter
of Adam is born, as to spiritual faculties, in a state
of spiritual death, and is as incapable, until an act
of regeneration hath passed in quickening to a new
and spiritual life, of any act of spiritual appre-
hension, as a dead body is to any act of animal
life.
Scripture describes the different degrees of death
in a clear and distinct manner. The death of the
body is the separation of soul and body, so that the
760
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soul, which is the life of the body, if fled, leaves
the body lifeless, and without any longer principle
of consciousness. u The body (saith an apostle)
without the spirit is dead." (Jam. ii. 26.)
Spiritual death is the death of sin, by reason of
the want of the quickening Spirit of God in the
soul ; so that as Christ is the life of the soul, every
Christ-less soul is a dead soul. Eternal death is
the separation both of soul and body from God for
ever : and this is the state of the unreclaimed and
unregenerate wicked.
Now then, as in the first instance, while the soul
actuates the body that body is alive, but without
the soul so actuating, the body would be dead ; so
in the second, unless Christ, who is the life of the
soul, actuates the soul by regeneration, that soul
continues dead as by original transgression was
induced. And in the third, if Using and dying
without the blessed influence of regeneration, that
soul and body must remain in a state of eternal
death, and separation from God for ever.
Now, from this Scriptural statement of spiritual
death, it will be easy to gather what is meant and
implied by the doctrine of regeneration. It is, to all
intents and purposes, in the spiritual faculties crea-
ting a new life, a new birth, a new nature :
hence the Scriptures describe the recovery from
sin under the strongest expressions. u You, (saith
the apostle, speaking to the regenerated Ephes-
ians, chap. ii. 1.) hath he quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins." So again, ver. 5. " E}ven
when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us
together with Christ." So again — u If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature." (2 Cor. v. 17.) And
hence the apostle elsewhere saith, that our recovery
to a state of grace, and the new life, is " not by
781
works of righteousness which we have done, but
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Lord." (Tit. iii. 5, 6.) I only add
an humble prayer to God to grant to all his renew-
ed members the sweetest testimony in their own
experience to this most blessed truth, that they
may know that they are born again, a not of cor-
ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
our God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Pet.
i. 23.)
REHABIAH. One of the Levites, 1 Chron. xxiii.
17. His name seems to be derived from Rachab,
breadth, or extent — and therefore joined to Jah, it
may be supposed to mean an enlargement in my
Lord.
REHOB. King of Zobah in Syria, 2 Sam. viii. 3.
It should seem that the name is derived from Ra-
chab, breadth. There was also a Rehob among the
captives of Israel which returned from Babylon,
Neh. x. 11. And there was a city of Asher called
Rehob, bordering upon Syria, on the road to
Hamath. See Josh. xix. 28. Num. xiii. 11. The
Syrians called it Bethrohob. See 2 Sam. x. 6.
REHOBO AM. Son of Solomon, and successor to his
kingdom. His name seems to be a compound of
Rehob and Am, the people — probably derived from
Rachab, and if so, it will be the enlargement of the
people. We have his history at large from 1 Kings
i xi. 43, where it begins, to the rebellion against him
by Jeroboam, where it ends in his death, 1 Kings
xiv. 31.
REHOBOTH. We read of a river of this name
Gen. xxxvi. 37 ; where one Saul, a descendant of
Esau, resided on the borders of it. If the word
be taken from Rachab, it means enlargement or
extent.
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RHESA. The son of Zorababel in the ancestry of
Christ, Luke iii. 27. Probably derived from Ratzah,
will.
REHUM. We meet with two of this name in Scrip-
ture, one a Levite, son of Beri, who returned from
Babylon with the captives, Ezra ii. 2. — and another
Rehum, the chancellor. See Ezra iv. 9. The name
is Syriac, and means friendly or merciful.
REI. A person of some eminency in the house of
David. (See 1 Kings i. 8.) If derived from Raha,
friend, Rei will mean my friend.
REKEM. There were two of this name, Rekem, one
of the five kings of Median, slain by Israel, Num.
xxxi. 8. and Rekem the son of Hebron, 1 Chron.
ii. 43. If from Rac ah, it means pain. There was
a city of this name also, Josh, xviii. 27.
REMALIAH. Father of Pekah, king of Israel,
(2 Kings xv. 25.) If the word be a compound, and
derived from Ram-am, it means exalted of the
Lord. If otherwise, from Ramah, with the preposi-
tion Lamed, it may mean the reverse, namely, re-
jected of the Lord.
REMEMBRANCER.— Or Recorder. We find this
officer, in the court of David, in the person of Jeho-
shaphat. (2 Sam. viii. 16.) See also the margin in
this verse. I pause over the title and office pur-
posely to notice an infinitely higher in the same
department, in the court and church of the spiritual
David. I mean in the person, office, and work of
God the Holy Ghost. He is the Remembrancer
indeed, in the sweet and most blessed sense of the
word, for so the Lord Jesus testified of him. u The
Comforter, (said Jesus) which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you,
(John xiv. 26.)
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It will be the reader's wisdom, when at any time
he feels his soul refreshed with the remembrance
of past mercies, in the reviving-, upholding, quick-
ening-, comforting, and strengthening manifestations
of divine love in Jesus, to call this blessed office of
the Holy Ghost into recollection, and to ascribe the
whole of his joys and refreshments to this gracious
source. And what a gratifying thought is it to the
true believer in Christ, to consider that from the
indwelling residence of the Spirit in the hearts of
the Lord's people, there is not a blessing or mercy
they enjoy in Jesus but the Holy Ghost gives the
relish to the soul in the moment of enjoyment, and
makes the after recollection of it again blessed to
the soul by the exercise of this divine office. For
as the person of God the Holy Ghost is infinite, he
dwells in the whole body of Christ's mystical mem-
bers, and carries on in the hearts of each and of all
everyoffice, to teach, to lead, to guide, into all truth,
and to bring all things to their remembrance what-
soever Jesus hath told them. Blessed and almighty
Spirit, I would say, fill my heart, my house, the
church, and every member of Jesus with thyself, and
glorify the Lord Christ in all sweet remembrances !
Amen.
REMETH. A city so called. There are two cities
of this name, one a city of Simeon, in the south,
and another of Issachar. (See Josh. xix. 8. 21.)
The word is the same as Ramoth, signifiing high or
lofty.
REMMON. A city, Josh. xix. 7. And there was a
Rammon a village, about fifteen miles north from Je-
rusalem.
REMPHAN. We no where meet with the name of
this idol in the sacred Scriptures but in one place,
and that is in Stephen's address before the Sanhe-
drim. (Actsvii. 43.) And in this very passage which
764
Stephen is quoting, it is from the writings of the
prophet Amos, v. 25, 26. — but it is remarkable that
Stephen doth not quote it as the original is, or even
the translation, but in the place of Chiun substitutes
Remphan. However it is very evident, from the
name of Moloch, and the days of Amos's ministry
what species of idolatry it was to which the whole
referred. If the reader will look at a passage much
about the same period, 2 Kings xvii. 2Q, 30, he
will find that the fashion of the day respecting ido-
latry was at the height. " Every nation, (we are
told,) made gods of their own." The men of Baby-
lon made Succoth-benoth ; and the men of Cush
made Nergal ; and the men of Hamath made
Ashima ; and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak;
and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire
to Adram-melech, and Anammalach, the gods of
Sepharvaim. It is probable that A dram, and Anam,
or On, were the ancient idols of Egypt : Potipherah
was the priest of the latter. (Gen. xli. 45.) What
an awful portrait of human depravity doth the whole
afford ! See Succoth-Benoth. See Moloch.
RENEW and RENEWING. I pause at these words
purposely to drop an observation or two on a point
of so much consequence, in the Christian life, as
the blessed effects of these divine operations in the
heart, by God the Holy Ghost. His is the graci-
ous work to renew the mind of every sinner, when
by his grace he makes willing in the day of his power.
He opens the eye to see, and the heart to feel, the
dreadful consequences of sin, and the infinite im-
portance of salvation. His is the blessed act to
bring the heart savingly acquainted with the person,
offices, characters, and relations of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His is the delightful ministry to bring the
distressed soul under the comforting influences of
his supporting love, and to shew the heart, under
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desponding circumstances, that there is more in
Jesus's blood and righteousness to save, than in all
our sins to destroy. And by bringing home these
soul-strengthening, soul-refreshing views of Christ,
and applyingthem with sovereign power to the heart,
" he fills the heart with joy unspeakable and full
of glory." I hope the reader hath not now for the
first time to learn acquaintance with this divine office
of the Holy Ghost, but can say with the apostle,
" the Lord, according to his mercy, hath saved us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost, which he hath shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour." (Tit. iii. 5, 6.)
REPENTANCE. This, in idea, is supposedto be per-
fectly understood by every one ; but in reality very
few have a true scriptural apprehension of it. Re-
pentance, like faith, is the sole gift of God. The
act itself is so impossible to be assumed or taken
up by any, that it is equally easy to alter the colour
of the hair, or the features of the countenance, as
to change the heart. Jesus, it is said, (Acts v. 31.)
* Is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, for to give re-
pentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." What
therefore Christ gives cannot be the work or the
merit of man. There may be, and there often is, a
false repentance, which men of no religion may pos-
sess, but which is as distinguishable from true repen-
tance as darkness from light, when the principles
of both are analyzed. False repentance is that
which springs from a sorrow for the consequences,
not the causes of sin. True repentance is that which
flows from the consciousness of the sin itself. The
man of godly sorrow sorrows for having offended
God. The man of worldly sorrow sorrows that his
sin hath brought punishment. The one is the effect
of fear ; the other of love. The repentance for the
consequence of sin goes no further than as it dreads
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the punishment : the repentance for the cause of
sin becomes the continued gracious sorrow of the
heart. These observations may be sufficient to
mark the very different features of both, and under
grace enable any one to understand the vast dis-
tinction.
REPHAH. Of the family of Benjamin. (1 Chron.
vii. 25.) The name seems to be derived from Ra-
pha, medicine, or healer.
REPHAIM. See Raphaim.
REPHIDIM. An encampment of Israel in the wil-
derness, Exod. xvii. 1. remarkable for the murmur-
ings of the people, and the Lord's grace in giving
them water. See Rock. The word is derived from
Raphad, rest — hence in the plural, Rephidim,
rests.
REPROACH. The Scriptural sense of reproach is
not so generally understood. It means, in the fullest
sense of the word, reproach for God or God's
cause. Thus Joshua, when circumcising Israel at
Gilgal, is said to have taken away their reproach.
The Lord God said, This day 1 have rolled away
the reproach of Egypt from off you." (Josh. v. 9.)
Hence the place was called Gilgal, rolling away.
Similar passages we have Gen. xxx. 23. Isa. iv. 1.
Isa. liv. 4.) In a gospel sense, the reproach for
Christ's name is when a believer is content to be
considered vile, rather than relinquish his christian
calling. The Holy Ghost, by Peter, pronounceth
peculiar happiness on such as are u reproached for
the sake of Christ." (1 Pet. iv. 14.)
REPROBATE. The apostle to the Romans, (chap,
i. 28.) hath this awful expression, u God gave them
over to a reprobate mind." The doctrine of repro-
bation is of all others the most solemn. The ex-
pression of the apostle of God giving them over to
to it doth not convey that the Lord makes them
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reprobate, but leaves them in it. It is they that
have gone on to harden their heart, and they are
left in that hardness of heart ; for God doth not
give grace to bring them out of it, therefore they
are given over, or given up, in being left alone to
this state of reprobation.
It should seem that the word is equivalent to
that of rejection ; such as in the case of Cain, Gen.
iv. 5; such as Esau, Heb. xii. 16, 17. Hence the
prophet, speaking of all such, saith, " reprobate sil-
ver shall men call them, because the Lord hath
rejected them." (Jer. vi. 30.) Awful doctrine ! (See
Jude 4—13. Tit. i. 16. See vagabond.)
RESPECT. By respect to persons or things, in
Scripture language, is meant the preferring one to
another. It means therefore distinguishing grace;
hence it is said, * the Lord had respect unto Abel
and his offering ; but unto Cain and his offering
he had no respect." (Gen. iv. 4, 5.) We are told
elsewhere the cause, in that Abel offered his offer-
ing by faith in Christ, Cain did not. (Heb. xi. 14.)
Hence it was in Christ, and for his sake only, the
difference of respect was shewn. So again, it is
said, God is no respecter of persons, (Acts x.
34.) Certainly not : for it is not the person of the
believer, but the Lord Jesus Christ in that believer,
or by virtue of Jehovah beholding the person
of Christ in that believer, that is the sole cause
of acceptation. This is a sweet thought ! Though
personally considered Jehovah hath no respect
to the person of the poor believer, yet beholding
him in Christ he hath respect to him, and for his sake
respects nim in the Lord and blesseth him in Jesus.
REST. Every one knows what it is to rest from
labour, from weariness of body and mind. And
every one who is acquainted with the Bible cannot
but know that there is a rest promised to the people
768
of God. (Heb. iv. 9.) But the sweetest of all
thoughts to a poor, distressed, weather-beaten sin-
ner, is to behold Christ himself this rest for him to
lie down upon for ever. The Holy Ghost, by
Isaiah, gave account of this rest in Jesus when he
said, " This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the
weary to rest,' and this is the refreshing." (Isa.
xxviii. 12. See also Ps. cxvi. 7. Matt. xi. 28, 29.)
RESTORE. The Scriptural sense of restoration
is to give back to its rightful owner whatsoever
had been taken away. And nothing can more fully
come up to this standard, than when Christ made
restoration to God for his people of all that they
had taken away, or injured God in. Our nature, by
sin and transgression, had robbed God of his glory
and man of his happiness. The glory of God was
robbed in the injury, and dishonour done to his at-
tributes, to his law, and to his justice. When
therefore Jesus restored that he took not
away, as he saith himself, by the spirit of
prophecy, (Ps. lxix. 6.) — he restored glory
to the attributes of God, he restored more than
an equivalent to the law of God by his per-
sonal obedience, and to the justice of God by his
personal sufferings and death. And in as much as
the obedience and death of the Lord Jesus, from
the dignity of his person, and the infinite worth and
merit of his obedience and sacrifice, became infi-
nitely more valuable than the everlasting obedience
and death of all the creation of God would have
been had both been so offered, God was more glo-
rified by those personal acts of the Lord Jesus
Christ, than he had ever been dishonored by man's
disobedience and rebellion.
And as the Lord Jesus thus restored to God
his glory and honor, so he restored to man thereby
his happiness. Man had been robbed of God's
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favour, God's image, God's blessing. All these
were fully, completely, and most satisfactorily re-
stored, by the person and redemption-work of the
Lord Jesus. God's favour is procured, God's
image is restored, and God's everlasting bless-
ing is obtained, by the blood of the cross. And
what endears the whole is, that it is so obtained as
that it can be lost no more. Such is the Scriptural
sense of restoration by the Lord Jesus !
RESURRECTION. Here is a word of words!
The doctrine of which, and the eventful conse-
quence of which, involves in it all our high hopes
and expectations of happiness for the life that now
is, and that which is to come. The resurrection is
the key-stone in the arch of the Christian faith ."
so that as the aposlle Paul strongly and unanswer-
ably reasons, " if there be no resurrection of the
dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not
risen, then is our preaching vain, and our faith is
also vain." Yea, saith the apostle, (as if he had
said, and that is not the worst consequence if the
doctrine be not true, for then) u we are found false
witnesses of God, because we have testified of God
that he raised up Christ whom he raised not up,
if so be that the dead rise not ; for if the dead rise
not, then is Christ not raised ; and if Christ be not
raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins;
and then all they that are fallen asleep in Christ
are perished." (1 Cor. xv. 14. — 18.)
The subject therefore, is infinitely important
and the apostle hath placed the doctrine in the
clearest light possible. It is reduced to this
single point — if Christ be not risen, then there
is no resurrection of the dead ; but if Christ be
himself risen, then is he become " the first-fruits of
them that slept." For by his own resurrection he
gives full proof to all the doctrines he taught ; and
VOL. VI. 3 D
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as he declared himself to be the resurrection and
the life, and promised that whosoever lived and
believed in him he would raise up at the last day,
and in confirmation of it arose himself; hence it
must undeniably follow that our resurrection is in-
volved and secured in his. He said himself, u be-
cause I live, ye shall live also." (See John xi. 25.
26, &c; v. 21.— 29; xiv. 19.)
Concerning- the fact itself of our Lord's resurrec-
tion I do not think it necessary to enlarge. The New
Testament is so full of the interesting particulars,
and the truth of it is so strongly confirmed by the in-
numerable witnesses both of the living and the dead,
yea, God himself giving his testimony to the truth
of it, that in a work of this kind I consider it a
superfluous service to bring forward any proof. 1
rather assume it as a thing granted, and set it
down as one of the plainest matters of fact the world
ever knew, that Christ is risen from the dead. I
shall therefore only subjoin under this article the
observations which naturally arise out of this glo-
rious truth, in proof also that as Christ is indeed
risen from the dead, he arose not as a private per-
son, but the public Head of his church, which is his
body, and thereby became the first fruits of them
that slept.
The first view of Christ's resurrection, as con-
necting our resurrection with it, is the full assurance
it brought with it that the debt of sin Christ under-
took, as our Surety, to pay, was discharged. For
never surely would the prison-doors of the grave
have been thrown open, and Christ let out, had
not the law of God, and the justice of God both
been satisfied. In that glorious moment when
Christ arose from the dead, he proved the whole
truth of what he had taught. K Destroy this tem-
ple, (he said, and he spake of the temple of his
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body) and in three days I will raise it up." (See
John ii. 18 — 22.) And hence God the Father on
this occasion is called K the God of peace, who
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus
Christ/ because by the blood of the everlasting
covenant he had now fulfilled the contract on his
part and God now fulfilled it in his, and in confirma-
tion is here called the God of peace. (Heb. xiii. 20.)
The next view of Christ's resurrection, as inclu-
ding in it ours, is that as the man Christ Jesus
arose, so assuredly must the bodies of all his rede-
med. And as it was said by Moses to Pharaoh
concerning Israel's deliverance from Egypt, " not
an hoof shall be left behind," (Exod. x. 26.) so it
may be said of Israel's seed, not an hair of their
head shall perish, much less the humblest and least
of Christ's mystical body shall be lost in the ruins
ofthe world, which at the resurrection is then to
be burnt. And this resurrection of the bodies of
Christ's members is secured by virtue of their
union and oneness with their glorious Head ; for
so the character of the covenant runs — " If the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodie9 by his
spirit thatdwelleth in you." (Rom. viii. 11.) Sweet
thought to the believer ! He may truly say, I shall
arise, notsimply by the sovereign power of that voice
that raiseth the dead, but by his Spirit which unites
me to himself now, and will then quicken me to the
new life in him for ever. And this is the meaning
of that blessed promise of God the Father to the
Son — " Thy dead men shall live ; " yea, saith the
Lord Jesus, in answer as it were, and in a way of
confirmation, " together with my dead body shall
they arise." And then comes the call — u Awake
and sing ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew
3 D 2
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[the warm, reanimating, life-giving dew of Jesusin
resurrection-power to glory, as in regenerating
power first in grace from the womb of the morning,
in which Christ had the dew from his youth ; Ps.
ex. 3.] is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall
cast out her dead." (Isa. xxvi. 19.) Beautiful figure!
the dew of herbs revives those plants which appear
through the winter like dry sticks, and not the least
view of herbage remains. Son of man! can these
sticks live ? Such will be Christ's dew to the
bodies of his people. Oh, precious, precious
Jesus !
One thought more on this subject of Christ's
resurrection, and of his church so highly interested
in it, and that is, that as Jesus's resurrection is the
cause of ours, and he himself accomplisheth ours by
his Spirit as a germ dwelling in us, so the blessed-
ness of our resurrection is, that as Christ's identical
body arose, so shall ours. " He will change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body." Changed it will be from what it
was sown in weakness, because it will be raised in
power but its identity, consciousness, reality, will
be the same. Here again we feel constrained to
cry out, Oh, precious, precious Lord Jesus ! and to
say with Job, u I know that my Redeemer (or, as
the words are, my kinsman Redeemer) liveth, and
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, (for myself)
and not another for me." (Job xix. 25 — 27.)
So much for the doctrine of the resurrection, and
the unanswerable testimones on which it is founded.
The Lord strengthen all his people in the faith of
it, seeing that by the resurrection of their Lord
they are begotten " to this lively hope in Jesus, to
773
an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
Fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation." (1 Pet. i. 3—5.)
REUBEN. Eldest son of Jacob by Leah. We have
his history from (Gen. xxix. 32.) through the rela-
tion of the patriarchs. His name is derived from
llahah, to see — and Ben, son ; so that the com-
pound may be, tiie son of vision.
REUEL. Son of Esau, (Gen. xxxvi. 4.) The name is
from Reuah, friend — and El, God.
REUMAH. Concubine to Nahor. (Gen. xxii. 24.) If
from Ramam, the name means lofty or high.
REZEPH. A city of Syria. (2 Kings xix. 12.)
REZIN. King of Syria. (2 Kings xv. 37.) Probably
derived from Ratza, meaning a freedom, or some-
what voluntary.
RHEGIUM. A city of Italy mentioned in Paul's
travels. (Acts xxviii. 13.)
RHODA. A name ever-memorable from Peter's
history, in the angel delivering him from prison.
The name in the original means rose. (Acts xii.
13, 14.)
RIBAI. Father of Tttai, one of David's worthies.
(2 Sam. xxiii. 29.) If from Re bah, that multiplies.
RIBLAH. A city of Syria where judgment was given
on Zedekiah, and where his eyes were put out.
(2 Kings xxv. 6. Jer. lii. 9,) If from Rub, it means
quarrel.
RIGHTEOUS and RIGHTEO USNESS. It is very
highly important and interesting to have clear ap-
prehensions of the Scriptural meaning of the term
righteous. What notions we annex to it is of lit
tie consequence if the word of God decides other-
wise. Certain it is, that in the world's dictionary
the term righteous is very freely and commonly
bestowed, and upon characters that call in question
774
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many of the Lord's declarations concerning sin,
and the sinfulness of our fallen nature. It is highly
important therefore to hear what the word of God
saith on this point, and not lean upon the human
opinion of vain men.
Now the Scriptures with one voice, and in the
most unqualified and unaccommodating manner,
declare that when the Lord looked " down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there
were any that did understand and seek after God,"
the result of that enquiry was, that "they were all
gone aside, and altogether become filthy, that
there was none that did good, no not one." (Ps. xiv.
2,3.) And the apostle Paul quotes this passage, and
confirms "it by enlargement. (See Rom. iii. 1 — 19.)
It is in vain for any man to make an appeal
against this decision. No comparative statement
can, in the least, alter the case. No man, not a
single man of the whole race of men sprung from
Adam, can be an exception to this universal de-
cree of God.
What then is the righteousness of the Scripture,
and who is the righteous man before God ? The
answer is direct. None but the Lord Jesus Christ.
He, and he only, is set forth under this title ; and
he alone is the Righteousness of his people. It is
high treason to talk of any other ; and it is equally
high treason to talk of any comparative statement
between man and man concerning righteousness.
The account from heaven is, " All have sinned and
come short of God's glory. The whole world is
become guilty before God. And by the deeds of
the law can no flesh be justified before God." Hence,
therefore, it undeniably follows that Christ is the
only righteousness of his people ; and he is what
Scripture declares his name is, and shall be, Jehovah
our Righteousness. (Jer. xxiii. 6.)
R I 775
Now then the conclusion from this statement of
Scripture is evidently this — if Jesus be the only
righteousness of his people, either this is ray right-
eousness, or I have none at all. Wholly sinful in
myself, and wholly righteous in him I must be, or
I have no part nor lot in this matter. If there be
not in me a total renunciation of every thing the
mistaken calculation of men calls righteousness, yea,
more than this, if there be not a full and unreser-
ved confession of universal sin and unworthiness
in me, I cannot be wholly looking for acceptance
to, and living wholly upon, the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Lord my Righteousness. And the gospel
knows no mixture, no mingling the righteousness
of the sinner with the righteousness of the Saviour.
"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Blessed
and happy souls who, from a deep conviction of
the total corruption and depravity of their own na-
ture, are resting all their high hopes of acceptance
and justification before God in the perfect and
complete righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ;
who behold him, and accept the authority of Jeho-
vah for this well-grounded confidence of beholding
him, and rest with full assurance of faith in him, as
the Lord their righteousness ; and to whose spirits
the Holy Ghost bears witness that " he is made of
God to them wisdom, and righteousness, sanctifi-
cation, and_ redemption, that, according as it is writ-
ten, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord."
(1 Cor. i. 30, 31.)
RIMMON. We meet with this word frequently in
the Scripture. A city of Zebulun was called by this
name, (1 Chron. vi. 77.) Also a rock to which the
Benjamites retreated, (Judg.xx.45.) And there was
an idol of the Syrians so called. (See 2 Kings v. 18.)
The name signifies somewhat great or greatness,
from Ramam.
776
RIMMON PAREZ. A place where Israel en-
camped. (See Num. xxxix. 10.)
RING or RINGS. See Signet.
RINNAH. Son of Shimon, 1 Chron. iv. 20. If from
Ranan, the name signifies song.
RIPHATH. Son of Gomer, Gen. x. 3. If from Ra-
phah, the name means remedy.
RISSAH. A place of encampment to Israel, (Num.
xxxiii. 21.) If from Rasah, it means watering as the
dew.
RITHMAH. A place of encampment where Israel
rested in the wilderness, (Num. xxxiii. 18.) Pro-
bably the place abounded with juniper trees, since
the name signifies juniper.
RIVER. We read of the several rivers in Scripture,
even from the garden of Eden. And as in those
hot countries nothing was so highly valued, it is no
wonder that the sacred writers made use of them
so often figuratively. Hence we read of " the river
of life, and the river of pleasures," and the like.
But the most striking are those expressions in
which all the persons of the Godhea-d are described
under this metaphor. "There is a river, (saith the
psalmist) the streams thereof make glad the city of
God." (Ps. xlvi. 4.) God the Father is thus describ-
ed, Jer. ii. 13. Ps. lxv. 9 ; God the Son is thus
described, Song iv. 15, Zech. xiii. 1 ; and God
the Holy Ghost, John vii. 38. and John iv. 14.
RIZPAH. Daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine.
(2 Sam. xxi. 10.) Perhaps the name is taken from
Ratzpa heat or fire.
ROCK. This name is familiar to every one who is
conversant with the things of nature. And in Scrip-
ture we meet with the continual mention of rocks
by particular names, such as the rock of Horeb,
the rock of Adullam, the rock of divisions, called
Sela-hammah lekoth. See the margin of the Bible,
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777
1 Sam. xxiii. But it would have been unneces-
sary in a work of this kind to have noticed the word
had it not been for the special application of the
term, in a figurative way and manner, to the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ as the visible Jehovah.
He is, if I mistake not, the glorious person all along
spoken of in the Old Testament Scripture, and ex-
plained most clearly in the New * as the rock
whose work is perfect." Beautifully to this purpose
doth Moses, the man of God, speak of him under
this figure. " He is the rock, (saith Moses) his
work is perfect ; for all his ways are judgment : a
God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right
is he." And speaking of the defects of Israel, and
his departure from the Lord, he saith, " he forsook
God which made him, and lightly esteemed the
rock of his salvation. Of the rock that begat thee,
thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that
formed thee." And then tracing the sad effects of
their being brought into captivity by their enemies,
to the cause of having forsaken their confidence in
the Lord, Moses adds, * how should one chase a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, ex-
cept their rock had sold them, and the Lord had
shut them up? For their rock is not as our rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges." (Deut.
xxxii. 4. 15. 18.30,31.)
But the most striking and particular use of the
term rock, as a figure applied to Christ, is that we
read in the eventful history of Israel, beginning at
Horeb, (Exod. xvii. 6.) where we find the Lord
speaking unto Moses in those remarkable words ;
" Behold, 1 will stand before thee upon the rock in
Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock and there
shall come water out of it, that the people may
drink." Now it never would have been known to
any farther extent concerning this miracle of grace,
778
II o
but that the Lord did here, as upon many other
occasions, work a miracle to supply the pressing-
occasions and wants of his people, had not the Holy
Ghost in his love and condescension to the church,
thought fit to explain this transaction, and not only
declared that it was Christ which wrought this mi-
racle, but that this rock was Christ himself. If the
reader will turn to the tenth chapter of Paul's First
Epistle to the Corinthians, and first and following
verses, he will behold the gracious comment of the
Holy Ghost upon it. " Moreover brethren, (saith
the apostle) I would not that ye should be ignorant
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and
all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all
eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the
same spiritual drink ; for they drank of that spiri-
tual rock that followed them, and that rock was
Christ." The margin of the Bible is stronger, for
it saith that this rock went with them.
Now I beg the reader's close attention to this
most interesting of all subjects. It is what in-
timately concerns true believers in Christ to have
just and right apprehensions of what the Holy
Ghost hath so graciously explained.
Nothing can be more certain than that the
Gospel was preached to the church in type and
figure to Israel then, as much and as fully as it is
now to the true Israel in sum and substance. For so
the Holy Ghost declares by Paul, (Heb. iv. 2)— so
that Christ was the one great ordinance and design
of the whole. And whether he was preached as the
rock, or the paschal lamb, or the manna, or the
brazen serpent, all pointed to Jesus, and in him all
had their completion.
But what I more particularly beg the reader to
observe is, the manifestation that is made by the
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779
rock, and the streams flowing from it of God in
Christ. The proclamation of the Lord was on this
occasion, " Behold, I will stand before thee upon
the rock in Horeb ;" intimating-, as plain as words
can shew, when opened to us by the Holy Ghost,
that the whole dispensation is God in Christ. For
as God in Christ was, and is, the foundation of all
reconciliation, so is it God in Christ which was,
and is, the source of all the blessings of redemption
flowing therefrom. Hence the several manifesta-
tions of Jehovah in both Testaments of Scripture
are all to this effect.
And as these several dispensation? pointed all to
Christ as the only possible supply for the church,
so the church is uniformly considered under every
estate, both in the Old Testament and New, as
living by faith upon Jesus, and deriving all sup-
plies from him. We are told that " they did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same
spiritual drink." There was no difference in the
supply, neither in the privilege of the receivers,
for all was Christ. Hence it proves that from the
beginning all the grace the church would stand in
need of through the whole period of time in every
individual instance of it, this glorious Head of his
body the church had in him ; and whether it was the
manna or the rock, he, and he alone, was the sum
and substance of all. Sweet consideration to my
soul ! Hence, with one of old, 1 would say, * when
my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that
is higher than I." (Ps. Ixi. 2.)
ROD. The holy Scriptures have a variety of mean-
ings concerning this word. We perfectly well un-
derstand the sense if taken naturally. A rod may
be formed from all the various trees of the wood.
But when it is used figuratively, the meaning is not
so clear. Thus the Lord Jesus himself is called a
780
rod out of the stem of Jesse. (Isa. xi. 1.) And his
church is called the rod of his inheritance. (Ps. lxxiv.
2. Jer. x. 16.) Sometimes the expression is made use
of to denote the exercise of the Lord's power. Thus
speaking of his enemies he saith, " Thou shalt break
them with a rod of iron." (Ps. ii. 9.) And by the
exercise of it for his people, he shall make them
" willing in the day of his power." (Ps. ex. 3.) And
the Psalmist comforts himself in the Lord's exer-
cise of it over him when he saith "thy rod and thy
staff they comfort me." (Ps. xxiii. 4.) I refer to
the Scripture for the general account of the rod
K of Moses and Aaron's rod that budded/' and the
like. (Exod. iii. &c. Num. xvii. 17.)
ROGEL1M. A place in Gilead, the residence of
Barzillai. (See 2 Sam. xvii. 27.) Probably the same
as En-rogel, the fountain of Rogel.
ROHGAH. Son of Shamer, (1 Chron. vii. 34.) If
from Ravah, to drink — and Hagah, to speak, the
name, it should seem, means drunk, or filled with a
fulness for discourse.
ROLL. A sort of skin for making records upon.
Before the art of printing, this was the method of
forming registers, and making memorandums.
Hence we are told that the prophet Jeremiah was
commanded to take the roll of a book, and write
all the words which the Lord had said unto him con-
cerning Israel and Judah ; and that Baruch wrote
upon a roll, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the
words of the Lord. (Jer. xxxvi. l,&c.) SoEzekiel's
visions were written in a roll, and the Lord caused
him to eat it ; intimating, no doubt, figuratively,
the durable impression the words of the Lord made
upon his mind. (See Ezek. chap. ii. iii. Rev. x. 9.
See also Jer. xv. 16.)
ROSH. One of the sons of Benjamin, (Gen. xlvi. 21.)
Rosh means head. Probably, therefore, this son
of Benjamin became the head of a family.
781
RUHAMAH. SeeAmmi.
RUTH. A well known name in Scripture. In the
original it signifies, one that is filled or elevated.
She was by birth of Moab. And when EUmelech,
with his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and
Chilian, left the land of Bethlehem-judah, and went
down into Moab, there Chilion married Ruth. And
at the death of EUmelech, and Mahlon, and Chilion,
Naomi and Ruth left Moab for Bethlehem-judah ;
where, after a time, Ruth was married to Boaz,
from which union sprang Obed ; and from hence,
in a direct line, sprang Christ after the flesh. So
that Ruth becomes an interesting character, be-
cause her history doth not lead to endless genealo-
gies, but leads directly to the Lord Jesus Christ ;
and not only is Ruth meriting this attention from
being found among the ancestors of Christ, but also
we behold in it a sweet type, in her recovery from
Moab to Bethlehem, of the call of the Gentile
church, and the union of both Jew and Gentile in
Christ.
The Book of Ruth, which the Holy Ghost hath
been pleased to give the church in her name, is a
blessed portion, though short, of divine truths ; and
beside the historical part it bears in the events of
the church it forms a beautiful allegory of divine
and spiritual things. The Jews have never disputed
that it is of the canon of Scripture; but in their
Bibles they place it different from ours. We subjoin
it to the book of Judges, and very properly so, be-
cause what took place in the house of EUmelech,
as is recorded, happened in the days of the Judges ;
but the Jews have thought proper to call it one of
the five Migilloth, or volumes — that is, as they place
and number them, " Solomon's Songs, Ruth, Lamen-
tations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and Esther." It
is more than likely that the Prophet Samuel was
782
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the writer of the book of Ruth. There is a similar-
ity in style and manner, and in a few passages in
the phrases. (See Ruth i. 17. with 1 Sam. iii. 17.
xiv. 44.— xx. 43. See also 2 Sam. iii. 9. 35.)
I cannot close this account of Ruth without
begging the reader, whenever he peruseth this preci-
ous portion of the word of God, to be on the look-out
for the Lord Jesus. The book begins with an ac-
count of a famine in the land of Bethlehem-judah,
which means the land of bread, and which inclines
the family of this certain man Elimelech, whose
name signifies my God, a king, to go down into
Moab. We know that a certain man, even our
first father Adam, did so, when by transgression he
lost Eden; and all the children of Adam, like
Mahlon and Chilion, whose names signify sickness
and consumption, prove the sick and consumptive
stock from whence they sprung. Nothing but union
with Christ can bring us back to the Bethlehem of
of our almighty Judah ; and nothing but salvation
by Christ can restore to us our justly-forfeited pri-
vileges. Some sweet views of Jesus the book of
Ruth presents to us on these points. May the
Lord bless it to the reader !
S
SABACHTHANI. See Eli Eli.
SABAOTH. We meet with this word twice in the
New testament. (Rom. ix. 29. and Jam. v. 4.) Per-
haps the word might be more properly read Zabaoth,
armies, fromTzaba, army, (Jer. xi. 20.) And when
joined to the incommunicable name of Jehovah, it
forms together that glorious title The Lord of hosts,
783
or armies. And when we call to mind that the
whole creation of God are his armies, what a sense
of greatness and glory do such ideas awaken in the
mind ! It may serve in some measure to teach us
the reverence Moses, the man of God, endeavoured
to impress the children of Israel with when he pro-
claimed Jehovah under these characters — "that thou
mayest fear (said Moses) this glorious and fearful
name, the Lord thy God." (Deut. xxviii. 58.)
SABBATH. This was the original name first used
by the Hebrews for the Lord's day. It is indeed
an Hebrew word, and signifies repose or rest; and
hence Christ, " who is the rest wherewith Jehovah
causeth the Weary to rest, and who is their refresh-
ing," (Isa. xxviii. 12.) is the very Sabbath of the
soul. See Christ's invitation under this character.
(Matt. xi. 28—30.) It is worthy remark that Noah,
a type of Christ in the ark, is so called, from Nuach,
which signifies rest. Some indeed derive his name
from Nacham, consolation. But in either sense, or
in both, it is blessed to eye Christ in the type.
Hence the psalmist saith, (Ps. cxvi. 7 .) * Return unto
thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dwelt boun-
tifully with thee." In the original it is, return to
thy Noah. And surely Jehovah hath dealt bounti-
fully with the souls of all his redeemed, when, like
the dove returning to the ark when she found no
rest out of the ark for the sole of her foot, we return
to the Lord Jesus, the only rest for the soul, and
our salvation for ever. (Gen. viii. 9.)
The Sabbath was instituted, from the first dawn
of revelation, in honour of the creation ; for when
Jehovah had called into existence the several works
of his almighty hand, which his sovereign will and
pleasure gave being to, " he is said to have rested
from his works which he had made ;" and reviewing
with complacency what his hands had wrought, be-
784
holding their number and order in the several ranks
and disposals of his design, he sanctified the day of
his rest, and commanded every seventh day to be
hallowed for his more immediate worship, adoration
love, and praise, by all his intelligent creatures.
The Apostle to the Hebrews makes a short but
beautiful observation on the spiritual tendency of the
Sabbath when with an eye to Jesus he represents
the believing soul resting in Christ as the rest for
the people of God. " For he (saith the apostle) that
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from
his own works, as God did from his." (Heb. iv. 10.)
Since the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
from the dead, the name of Sabbath hath been less
used, and that of the Lord's day substituted more
generally in its place; and the authority for so doing
is derived from the apostles. Thus John, when
speaking of those revelations made to him by the
Lord Jesus in the Isle of Patmos, saith that he was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day. (Rev. i. 10.) And
it is no small confirmation of the Lord's approval of
the first day being appointed for the ordinance of
the Sabbath, that not only the Lord Jesus arose on
that day from the dead, but God the Holy Ghost
made his first public descent, agreeably to Christ's
promise, on that day. Hence divine honour is given
in the observance of the Lord's day on the first day
of the week to all the persons of the Godhead, for
creation, redemption, and sanctification. It hath
been said that the Jews at the giving of the law
lost the true reckoning of the seventh day. It
were devoutly to be desired that believers in the
Lord Jesus, in their ordinary conversation, would
distinguish the Sabbath by its proper name, and
call it what the apostle called it, the Lord's day.
Sunday is a name without meaning, unless indeed
it be connected with its derivation, and then it be-
735
comes still more improper I for if it be supposed,
as some have said, that it took its rise during the
time of the Saxon Heptarchy, and had reference to
the sun, and therefore called Sun-day, it savours of
idolatry. We know that the sun hath been in all
ages the great idol of the eastern world. (See Dent,
iv. 15. 19. 2 Kings xxiii. 11. Job xxxi. 26—28.
Ezek. viii. 16.) It is strange, therefore, that the
name should be retained when the Holy Scriptures
have never once mentioned such a name, and the
apostle's example so sweetly recommends what
ought to be so dear when we speak with reverence
of the Sabbath, that we call it the Lord's day.
We meet with several expressions connected
with fie Lord's day in the New Testament, such as
"a Sabbath day's journey, the second Sabbath after
the first." These are not explained to us in Scrip-
ture, and therefore we are left to conjecture con-
cerning their meaning. It is said that among the
Jews there was a tradition not to walk more than
six Stadia, or seven hundred and fifty paces, on the
Sabbath day — that is, somewhat less than one of
our miles. And perhaps in allusion to this it might
be that our Lord, speaking of the destruction of
Jerusalem, enjoined his disciples to pray that their
flight might not be in the winter, neither on the
Sabbath day. (Matt. xxiv. 20.)
Concerning the second Sabbath after the first,
which we read of Luke vi. 1 ; the meaning of it is
not so clear as to determine exactly. But it hath
been conjectured that the Jews particularly num-
bered their Sabbaths from the Passover, and that
the second Sabbath was intended to mean from the
Passover. But others have concluded that the
second Sabbath meant the Pentecost, and the first
the Passover.
It is astonishing to behold with what veneration
\ol. vi. 3 s
786
/ the ancient Jews esteemed their Sabbaths. They
considered the appointment of it by the Lord so
peculiar a mercy, in that it distinguished them from
all others nations, that they took the greatest de-
light in it, calling it their spouse. It is to be feared
that in modern times their descendants have lost
this reverence, as well as the true knowledge of
their own Scriptures. Oh, that the Lord would
hasten the time when u the Deliverer shall arise out
of Zion, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob !"
(Rom. xi. 26. Hos. iii. 4, 5.)
SABEANS. The Scriptures in various parts speak
of those men. We meet with them Job i. 15. And
it is very probable that by the men of Sheba is
meant the same. (Ps. lxxii. 10. 1 Kings x. 1, 2.) In the
writings of Isaiah they are spoken of as men of sta-
ture. (Isa. xlv. 14.) But who they are, or to what
purpose designed, there is no mention. It is a
blessed thought however, what is said, Ps. lxxii.
throughout, concerning the ultimate extension and
prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom " when the
kings of Sheba and of Seba shall offer gifts ; yea,
when all kings shall fall down before him, all na-
tions shall serve him." (Ps. lxxii. 10. 11.) Oh, what
wonders will by and by break out in the earth, when
from the rising of the sun even unto the going down
of the same Jesus's name shall be great among the
Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be
offered unto his name and a pure offering ! (Mai.
ill.)
SABTAH. One of the sons of Cush. (Gen. x. 7.) And
there is another son of Cush named Sabtecha —
both derived from the same word, Sabah, to sur-
round .
SACAR. One of David's worthies. (1 Chron. ii. 35.)
If his name be derived from Shakar, it should seem
to mean somewhat alluding to drunkenness.
7187
SACKBUT. This was an instrument of rausio known
in the court of the Chaldeans ; but we do not find
mention of it elsewhere. (Dan. hi.) The Hebrews had
a variety of stringed and wind instruments, as well
as a kind of tympanum or drum. The Hebrews call-
ed it Taph. But certain it is that very little hath
ever been understood, even among the Jews them-
selves, after their return from Babylon, concerning
the instruments to which their fathers had been so
partial. See Music.
SACKCLOTH. We read much of the sackcloth with
which the prophets and mourners in Zion clad
themselves upon occasions of sorrow. Rending the
garment, and putting on sackcloth, are terms every
where to be met with in the Old Testament. And
at any time when a reverse of circumstances took
place, they rent the sackcloth from their loins :
hence David is represented as saying, "Thou hast
turned for me my mourning into dancing ; thou
hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with
gladness." (Ps. xxx. 11.) I refer the reader to the
word of God for accounts of this apparel. (Gen.
xxxvii. 34. Ps. xxxv. 13. Isa. xx. 2.) There is a pro-
phecy in the book of the Revelations which some
think yet remains to be fulfilled, where it is said
that the Lord's " two witnesses shall prophecy a
thousand, two hundred, and three-score days,
clothed in sackcloth." (Rev. xi. 3.) Others sup-
pose the event hath been already accomplished.
SACRIFICE. The sacrifices under the Old Testa-
ment dispensation were all shadowy representations
and types of that one great and all-sufficient sacri-
fice of the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all, whereby " he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified."
It is proper to observe that though the sacrifices
under the law were all typical of Christ, yet sacri-
3 -E 'i
788
S A
fices did not first come in under the law. In the
garden of Eden we find their observance. And as
a still farther confirmation that every sacrifice,
both under the law, and before the law, was
typical, we are expressly told by the Holy Ghost
that by faith they were offered — that is, faith in the
promised seed. " By faith Abel offered unto God
. a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith
Abraham when he was tried offered up Jsaac." And
what could this faith be in but Christ? (See Heb.
xi. 4. 17.)
The sacrifices under the law were of different
kinds, but all signified the same thing. To Jesus
Christ, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world," they all referred, and in him the whole had
their accomplishment. Whether the sacrifice was
what was called the burnt offering, or Holocaust,
the sacrifice for sin, or expiation, or the peace-of-
fering, or sacrifice of thanksgiving, Christ was the
great object set forth in every one. For neither
could the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer, "sprinkling the unclean, sanc-
tify to the purifying of the flesh, but Jesus, by his
own blood, and by entering once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Heb.
ix. 12, 13.)
It may be proper to observe under this parti-
cular of sacrifice, wherein it differed from oblation.
In the former there was somewhat done as well
as presented. The offering, of whatever sort it was,
whether a burnt offering, or a sacrifice for sin, un-
derwent a change ; it was either in part or in
whole consumed : whereas an oblation simply con-
sisted in the presentation or dedication of it. See
Passover.
S ADDUCE ES. These were a sect among the Jews,
but possessing nothing of the principles of Abra-
7>i9
ham, but rather a class of Epicureans. They were
rigid to a degree for the law, because, denying
any future state of reward or punishment, angel or
spirit, they made the chief good to consist in an at-
tention to the observance of order in this life.
It is worthy remark, and indeed it is the only
reason for noticing characters of this kind at all in
a work of this nature, how our blessed Lord was
opposed on the one hand and on the other by those
fashionable sects which abounded in his day. The
" Scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees and Sam-
aritans," all arose in opposition to the cross. This
should be remembered by the faithful and humble
follower of the Lord Jesus in the present day, when
at any time the privileges of his faith and conver-
sation in Jesus is opposed or called in question.
Sweetly the Holy Ghost persuades to this when he
saith, "Consider him that endured such contradic-
tion of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds." (Heb. xii. 3.)
SAINT and SAINTS. If I apprehend right, those
titles are used in Scripture with different mean-
ings. Thus when spoken of angels, or beings of
higher intellect than man, there is a peculiar de-
gree of holiness annexed to the word saint in those
instances. Thus Moses, describing the descent of
the Lord upon mount Sinai, saith, " He came with
ten thousands of saints." (Deut. xxxiii. 2.) But
when the same word is made use of in application
to men, whether the apostles and first servants in
the church, or ordinary believers, I apprehend it
means no more than sinners regenerated, and made
sa:n!s in Christ Jesus. Thus Paul the apostle, ad-
dressing his first Epistle to the Corinthians, useth
these remarkable words — " Unto the church of
God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctifi-
ed in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." (1 Cor. i. 2.)
790
I do not presume to point out the difference —
I only state it as it is. Probably there is no real
difference in sanctity, because all holiness in every
creature can be but a derived holiness. The high
and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity, strictly and
properly speaking-, is the only Holy One. Every
thing-, therefore, of holiness is just so far so, and
no more, as hath been received from him. And
with respect to the holiness of men or angels it is
possible, yea more than possible, even highly pro-
bable, that when a sinner is washed from all his
sins in Christ's blood, he is holier than an angel
which never sinned ; and eminently on this account
— the holiness of the sinner in his renewed nature
is the holiness of God our Saviour, from a life re-
ceived from Jesus and union with Jesus : whereas
the holiness of the angel is but the holiness of the
creature, a created holiness, and not derived
from any life-union with Christ. If this be true,
let the reader contemplate, if he can, the personal
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in this holiness of
his nature, and his redeemed in him. Such honour
have all his saints ! And when he hath duly pon-
dered this most blessed of all subjects, let him add
this to it, namely, that it is an holiness that never
can be lost, sullied, or lessened. u Such an High
Priest (saith Paul) became us, who is holy, harm-
less, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens." (Heb. vii. 26.) As the
holiness of Christ in his human nature, deriving
every thing of sanctity as it must from the union
with the Godhead, gives a completeness both of
durableness and excellency to that sanctity, so
must it eusure the same in all his members. The
holy angels are said by Jehovah (Job. iv. 18.) to
have no trust put in them, yea, " he chargeth them
with folly, or weakness — that is, with a possibility of
S A
791
falling-. For though they are free from sin, yet not
secure from the possibility of sinning-. Angels
have fallen, and therefore angels may fall. But
believers united to Jesus are everlastingly secure
in him. He saith himself, * Because I live ye shall
live also." (John xiv. 19.) What an unspeakable
felicity this to the church of God in Christ Jesus
called to be saints !
SALAH. Son of Arphaxad. (Gen. xi. 12.) If derived
from Shalach, the name means branches.
SALAMIS. A city in the island of Cyprus. (Acts
xiii. 5.) Here the apostle Paul in his travels preach-
ed the word of God, being sent forth with Barna-
bas by God the Holy Ghost for that purpose. We
have a most interesting record concerning the
apostles' success in this island, in being instrumental
to the conversion of the deputy governor, and the
opposition they met with from Elymas the sorcerer.
I refer the reader to the relation as it is recorded
in the above-mentioned chapter.
SALATHIEL. There are several of this name in
Scripture: one among the sons of Jeconiah, (IChron.
hi. 17.) and another mentioned by Ezra chap. iii. 2.
— but here it is spelt according to the Hebrew,
Shealtiel, but both is the same name, and derived
from the same root, Sheal, a loan. So that it
should seem the father of the first Salathiel called
his son by this name, as Hannah did her Samuel,
because it was a loan or gift asked of God. (See
1 Sam. i. 20.) — in the margin also of the Bible.
We meet with another Salathiel (Matt. i. 12.) and
another, (Luke iii. 27.) though some have thought
that this was one and the same person, the branches
here uniting in this genealogy of Christ.
SALCHAH. A city belonging to Bashan beyond
Jordan. (Deut. iii. 10.) If from Salah, perhaps the
name means treading down.
SALEM. There are various places called by this
7i>2
name. The first we meet with in Scripture is where
Melchizedekissaidto be king of Salem. (Gen. xiv.
18.) Jerusalem and Salem in Scripture are one.
In Salem, saith the Psalmist, speaking of Jehovah,
is his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Zion. (Ps.
lxxvi. 2.) There was a Shalem also in the coun-
try of the Shechemites, were Jacob in his travels
came. (Gen. xxxiii. 18.) And it is more than pro-
bable that the Salim where John baptised was a
distinct place known by this name. The name
itself is Shalam, peace. Hence when Gideon was
visited by the angel under the oak at Ophrah, at
the close of the interview he built an altar unto the
Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom — that is, as
the margin of the Bible reuders it, the Lord send
peace. (Judg. vi. 24.)
SALISSA or SHALISHA. A city north of Jerusa-
lem. Mention is made of it, 1 Sam. ix. 4 — and pro-
bably it is the same place which is called Baal
Shalisha, 2 Kings iv. 42. If from Shalosh, it means
third.
SALLAI. One of the priests returned in the cap-
tivity. The name means my rising. (Neh. xii 20.)
SALLU. The son of Meshullam. (1 Chron. ix. 7.)
If from Salal, the name means basket.
SALMA or SALMON. (See Ruth iv. 19, compared
with 1 Chron. ii. 11.) If from Shalom, the name
means peace.
SALMONE. A sea-sport in the island of Crete.
See Paul's travels, Acts xxvii. 7. Derived from
Shalom.
SALOME. The wife of Zebedee. Honorable men-
tion is made of this woman in her attendance on
the Lord Jesus, Mark xv. 40 ; xvi. 1.
SALT, We meet with so many portions of Scripture
where this word is used, and in senses so very dif-
ferent troth each otl er, that it merits our more
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793
particular attention. The Israelite* called it Melach
— and probably from the sovereign properties with
which it is endued.
I shall beg to set before the reader some of the
Scriptures where we meet with it, in order that we
may have a better apprehension of the design of
God the Holy Ghost in the use of it. I shall
begin with those which speak of its destructive qua-
lity.
The first account we read of salt is Gen. xiv. 3 ;
where mention is made of the Salt Sea in the vale
of Siddim ; and this is probably what elsewhere is
called the Dead Sea, forming the spot where once
stood Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the
plain, which the Lord destroyed by fire, and over
which Jordan in the seasons of its overflowing pours
itself. It is said even to the present hour to send
up such steams of a sulphureous nature, as to kill
every bird attempting to fly over it.
The next account of salt is in the instance of Lot's
wife made a pillar of salt. (Gen. xix. 26.) We
read in the prophecy of Ezekiel also concerning
the miry places, and the marshy places, which were
never to be healed, but to be given to salt. (Ezek.
xlvii. 11 ) And the prophets Jeremiah and Zeph-
aniah have much the same expressions concerning
the perpetual barrenness of lands given to salt,
(Jer. xvii. 6. Zeph. ii. 9.) The psalmist saith,
(Ps. cvii. 34.) that the Lord turneth a fruitful land
into saltness, (so the margin renders it) for the wick-
edness of them that dwell therein.
Those instances may be sufficient, in the view of
the Scripture, concerning salt, where its use is
marked in a way of destruction. Let us now look
into the holy volume again for passages where an
opposite quality is described, as resulting from the
appointment of it.
794
The first account we meet with where salt is di-
rected to be used in the way of a blessing is in Le-
viticus, chap. ii. 13. "And every oblation of thy
meat-offering' shalt thou season with salt ; neither
shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy
God to be lacking from thy meat-offerings; with
all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." So again
when the prophet Elisha sweetened the waters of
Jericho, he did it by casting a cruse of salt into
them; and this was done by commission from the
Lord, for the prophet added, "Thus saith the Lord3
I have healed these waters ; there shall not be
from thence any more death or barren land."
(2 Kings ii. 21.) And that salt was considered in
the light of a blessing it is said, (2 Chron. xiii. 5.)
"that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom
over Israel to David for ever, even to him, and to
his sons by a covenant of salt." Hence we find also
that Jesus called his disciples the salt of the earth,
as if to intimate that his grace in them preserved
the earth from universal putrefaction. (Matt. v. 13.)
And elsewhere the Lord said, " have salt in your-
selves, and have peace one with another." (Mark
ix. 50.) And his servant Paul figuratively recom-
mended the church that their speech should be
always with grace seasoned with salt. (Col. iv. 6.)
From both those views of salt, according to the
holy Scripture, in being appointed as a figure of
evil and of good, it becomes a very interesting
enquiry to know yet somewhat more particularly
the mind of God the Holy Ghost respecting the use
of it. And if I do not greatly err, that service in
the church concerning the salt of the oblation,
throws a great light upon the whole. We there
read that every oblation of the meat-offering was
to be seasoned with salt. The salt was never to be
wanting ; with all offerings the salt was to be offer-
795
ed. And what gives a strong leading feature to the
whole was this, that this was called "the salt of the
covenant of Jehovah." (Lev. ii. 13.)
Now if we first consider the property of salt, that
it is to save from corruption, we discover that the
salt, which was never to be omitted in the offering,
was the grand object the Lord had regard to in the
whole. It is expressly called " the salt of the cove-
nant of thy God." Supposing then that this figura-
tively sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, we instantly
perceive that such is the importance that his per-
son, blood, and righteousness, should be in and
with all our offerings, that there can be no coming
to the Father but by him. Where Christ is not,
there is no savour ; it is his blood which gives a
fragrancy and a perfume to our most holy things.
And if Jesus be the salt of the covenant of our
God, and with all our offerings he be first and last
presented, both the Alpha and Omega, in our view,
as he is in the view of God our Father, then is that
Scripture blessedly fulfilled which the Lord deli-
vered by the prophet : " For in mine holy mountain
in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the
Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of
them in the land, serve me. There will I accept
them, and there will I require your offerings, and
the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy
things. I will accept you with your sweet savour ;
and ye shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezek. xx.
40 — 42.) Observe, your sweet savour ! and the
Holy Ghost by Paul, calls Christ's sacrifice a sweet-
smelling savour. (Ephes. v. 2.)
There is another consideration in the view of the
subject which serves to confirm the doctrine yet
farther, namely, the universal use of salt. It is
essential to all the purposes of food. It not only
ministers to give a taste to the several articles of
796
meat, but to preserve animal life from leprosy, and
similar diseases. What is called curing of meat,
that is, salting it, hath much signification of a spiri-
tual nature in it. I do not presume to say as much
so as to decide upon it, but I venture to believe
that the term of " curing of meat by salt" took its
rise from the circumstance of the divine cure of our
nature by the salt of the covenant. Job saith,
" Can that which is unsavory be eaten without
salt ?" (Job vi. 6.) Much more may it be said, Can
our poor nature be accepted but in Christ ? Can
our nature be cured and preserved from everlasting
corruption but by the Lord Jesus ?
Once more — salt is of the Lord's own providing :
it is among the natural productions of the earth.
There is indeed a process of art now used for
refining salt, and making it minister to various ways
of usefulness ; but the rock salt in its own pure
nature is not of human production nor contrivance ;
like the earth itself, it is of Jehovah's forming. " The
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." (1 Cor.
x. 26.) Such then is Christ, Jehovah's own provi-
ding for curing the souls of his people. So that in
the salt of the covenant we offer nothing of our
own for acceptance, but what God hath first given
to us. Jehovah is very jealous of his honour. "An
altar of earth shalt thou make unto me : and if thou
wilt wake me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build
it of hewn stone, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it
thou hast polluted it." (Exod. xx. 24, 25.)
Fourthly, if the reader will consult the context
concerning this meat- offering with the salt of the
covenant, he will find that it was an offering also
made by fire unto the Lord. (See Lev. ii. 13 — 16.)
Hence the salt of the covenant was not simply to
cleanse and render pure for acceptance, but it was
to sprinkle the offering'made by fire. Hence there-
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fore, when the offering was offered with the salt of
the covenant, and the Lord gave token of* his accep-
tance by consuming- the sacrifice with fire, this for-
med a confirmation of the divine favour. This is
beautifully explained, Lev. ix. 24. "And there
came a fire out from before the Lord, and con-
sumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat,
which when all the people saw they shouted and fell
on their faces." Here was both God's acceptance of
the salted offering, and testimony at the same time
given that the consumption of the sacrifice became
the salvation of the people. The fire that consumed
the one would, but for the acceptance of the salted
sacrifice, have consumed the other. Well might
the redeemed shout for joy while they fell on their
faces with the lowest reverence.
Now if the reader will pause over the subject,
and by looking back take a retrospective view of
the whole, he will perceive that salt in the church
of God had a twofold dispensation : and, like Him
whom it evidently prefigured, it became " the savor
of life unto life, or of death unto death." (2 Cor.
ii. 16.) Jesus was set for " the fall and rising again
of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be
spoken against." (Luke ii. 34.) Where Jesus is
like the salt of the covenant, he will preserve from
putrefaction. "That little leaven shall leaven the
whole lump." (1 Cor. v. 6.) Like the tree of
Marah, Jesus makes the waters sweet. (Exod.
xv. 25.) Like the cruse of salt at Jericho, though
salt in its own nature will make sweet water brack-
ish, Jesus will heal the spring, and make it whole-
some. In short, where Jesus is there is the salt of
the covenant — " Destroy it not, there is a blessing
in it." (Isa. lxv. 8.)
On the other hand, " if the gospel be hid it is
hid to them that are lost." (2 Cor. iv. 3.) Where
798
Christ, the salt of the covenant, is rejected, that
land, that people, that family, is given up to perpe-
tual, barenness : it never can be healed. Oh, for
grace to know our mercies, and truly to value them!
For he that now saves from corruption, will one
day be the everlasting condemnation of those that
reject him. "For (he saith himself) every one
shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall
be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt
have lost his saltness," (if Jesus be not the savour
of life unto life) " wherewith will ye season it?"
(who can then give acceptance to the sinner?)
Christ" becomes the savour of death unto death" —
graciously therefore he adds, " have salt in your-
selves, and have peace one with another." (Mark,
ix. 40, 50.)
Very largely as I have trespassed on this article,
I cannot forbear, by way of confirmation to the
whole, to add the relation given by a traveller con-
cerning the usage in the eastern nations of making
solemn engagements with salt. He tells us, that
one of those people, willing to assure him of the
seriousness of his promise to him, and that he would
certainly fulfil it, called to a servant to bring him
bread and salt ; as soon as it was brought, he took
a little of the salt between his fingers, and looking
very gravely, he put it on a morsel of the bread
and ate it, assuring me that now I might rely on his
promise. Baron Du Tott.
Is it not possible that this might have been a
custom received by tradition, however ill under-
stood, and worse applied, of the offering made with
salt in the Scripture ?
SALU. The father of a rebellious son called Zimri,
a prince in the house of the Simeonites. (See Num.
xxv. 14.) His name seems to be borrowed from
Salah, signifying basket.
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SALVATION. A blessed word of a most blessed
doctrine founded in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
Jehovah's salvation to the ends of the earth. (Isa.
xlix. 6.) I refer the reader to the article Redeemer
for the several features of salvation. And in ad-
dition to what is there said, I would just beg to
observe that the thing- itself meets poor lost souls
so many ways, and answereth to their wants in such
a variety of purposes, that it is always blessed to
meditate upon it.
The term salvation implies somewhat more than
a state of recovery from a state in which before the
sinner was lost, but it includes every thing that is
blessed in that state of recovery. The lost soul
is not only brought out of bondage and the shadow
of death, but brought into the liberty of the sons of
God. So that in salvation is meant a release from
all evil, and an introduction into all that is good. A
right and interest in all temporal, spiritual and
eternal blessings, is the sure consequence. Ever-
lasting life, with all its preliminaries, for it hath the
promise of" the life that now is, and of that which
is to come."
And what endears salvation yet more, is the
consideration of the almighty and all-loving author
of it, and by whom it was accomplished. What
he is in himself, in the glories of his person, his
greatness, fitness, suitability, and all-sufficiency ;
what he is in his work, and what he hath done for
his redeemed, the salvation he hath wrought be-
yond all conception of value in its completeness,
and beyond all reach of extent in its efficacy, being
like himself, everlasting and eternal ; and what he
is in his relations to his people, being their ever-
lasting Father, Brother, Husband, Friend — all
these things, included as they all are in salvation,
give the happy partakers of it "a joy unspeakable
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and full of glory ; so that every individual finds
cause to join in the hymn of the church, and say :
" I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation : he is a rock, his work is per-
fect, just and right is he." (Isa. lxi. 10.)
SALUTATION. The Lord Jesus takes notice of the
salutations of the Scribes in the market-place, and
their delight to be called of men Rabbi. (Matt,
xxiii. 7.) Contrary to this when the Lord sent out his
disciples to teach and to preach, he commanded
them to u salute no man by the way." (Luke x . 4.) To
an ordinary reader unacquainted with eastern cus-
toms, these things appear strange. We are so
much in the habit of familiar conversation as we
pass persons we know, that the salutation Good
morning, or Good day, or the like, seems but com-
mon courtesy. But in the manners of the orientals,
these things would make constant confusion. Num-
berless transactions, and that of the highest kind,
are carried on with them by the mere bend of the
body or the motion of the head, without speaking
a word. A modern historian relates, that even upon
their public days of transacting business, and where
a multitude of concerns is carried on, so much of
the whole is done by sign and gesture, that if a
blind person were present, he would be unconsci-
ous of any company when perhaps some hundreds
were assembled. What would those eastern peo-
ple think of the clamour of voices in our Royal
Exchange ? In families, among the servants with
their masters, a thousand commands are issued and
executed, and not a voice heard. This may serve
to shew a new beauty on that sweet Psalm of
David, the one hundred and twenty third, were the
soul of a believer in the Lord is described as wait-
ing in silent adoration and obedience to receive
the Lord's commands, " as the eyes of servants look
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unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of
a maiden unto the hand of her mistress.
SAMARIA. The chief city in the kingdom of the ten
tribes. It was built by Qmri, as we read 1 Kings
xvi. 24. It seems to have taken its name from
Shamar, and hence called Shomeron by the Israel-
ites : so that his Shamar might mean his prison or
his guard. Samaria forms an interesting history to
the church, both in the Old Testament and the
New. From 1 Kings chap. xvi. to the end of the
Second Book of the Kings, and in the Gospel the
woman of Samaria, John iv., and numberless other
occasions render it memorable.
SAMARITANS. Those were the inhabitants of
Samaria. We have a most interesting account of
the conversion of many of this people to the faith
of Christ in consequence of the woman's bringing
them to Jesus, and hearing our Lord themselves.
(See John iv. 28—42.)
SAMLAH. We know nothing more of this man
than that he was king of Masrekah, (Gen. xxxvi.
36.) The name is Hebrew, and signifies raiment.
SAMOS. Here the apostle Paul in his voyage land-
ed; (see Acts xx. 15.) It was an island of the
Archipelago.
SAMOTHRACIA. Here the apostle Paul arrived
after his departing from Troas, (Acts xvi. 11.) It
was an island in the iEgean Sea.
SAMSON. A well-known character in the Old Tes-
tament : in one grand instance, as a Nazarite, a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Judg. xiii.
&c.) His name is derived from Shemesh, sun. I
refer to his life as is recorded in the book of the
Judges; and shall only make one observation upon
it, namely that the Hoi) Ghost hath made honour-
able mention of him by enrolling his name among
those worthies, so eminent fcr their faith, who arc
vol.. vi. 3 r
802
said to be such of whom " the world was not wor-
thy." (Heb. xi. 32.) See Nazarene.
SAMUEL. A well-known and eminent prophet of
the Lord. His name is derived from Shael, a loan,
or gift ; hence Shem and Urel of God. It would
form a separate history to enter into all the inter-
esting particulars which relate to the life and min-
istry of Samuel. I must beg the reader to gather
it for himself out of the Bible, under those writings
which bear his name. But the call of Samuel when
a child to the knowledge of the Lord is so truly
interesting, and forms a point of doctrine so inti-
mately connected with the gospel of Christ, that I
cannot wholly pass it by without begging the
reader's permission to offer a short observation
upon it.
The Bible account of this event is given in the
most beautiful simplicity of representation, 1 Sam.
iii. 1. &c. "And the child Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord
was precious in those days ; there was no open
vision. And ere the lamp of God went out in the
temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, and
Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord cal-
led Samuel, and he answered, Here am I.
There are a great number of very interesting
things in this relation that I must not stay to dwell
upon. The preciousness of the Lord's words in this
period of the church, when open visions were for a
time suspended; the special grace shewn to Samuel
in a season of general depravity, and when even
the sons of Eli, who were priests of the Lord, were
given up to a state of daring impiety and unclean-
ness ; the childhood of Samuel, so particularly
noted in the history, as if to encourage the youthful
part of the Lord's people to be found waiting on the
Lord in ordinances ; all these, and more to the
803
same purport, which this relation of the call of
Samuel brings forward, would furnish much obser-
vation for improvement. But I must pass over the
consideration of these things, however interesting,
to notice with more special marks of attention the
call of Samuel, and the manner of it.
Nothing can be more evident, from the history of
this transaction, than that at the time when Samuel
lay down to sleep, he was perfectly unconscious
of all divine revelations, and totally ignorant of
their meaning. Indeed we are told, in the seventh
verse that, * Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nei-
ther was the word of the Lord revealed unto him."
So that in Samuel's instance, as in every other, of
the real conversion of the heart to God, the graci-
ous act begins on the part of God. If we love him,
it is because he first loved us. It, was the Lord
first called Samuel, yea, repeated that call, or
Samuel never would have called upon the Lord-
This is what the Scriptures call preventing grace ;
hence David, in a degree of holy rapture, cries out,
The God of my mercy shall prevent me ; that is,
shall be before hand with me in all my need. (Ps.
lix. 10.)
The next beautiful representation this call of
Samuel furnisheth, is the secret, silent, and per-
sonal nature of it. Eli heard it not, though the
priest of God ; it was Samuel only and this by
name. Had thousands been present like Eli, it
was a voice they would not have heard, and in
which they had no concern. It was directed to
Samuel, and to him in secret, and what the Lord
said related to him personally. Such are the
marks of distinguishing grace in all ages of the
church. Jesus saith, " My sheep hear my
voice, and he calleth them all by name, and
leadeth them forth. Who can mark the proper-
3 f 2
804
ties of distinguishing grace in their own case and
circumstances without having the heart melted
into the fullest sense of affection ? u Lord how is it
(said the astonished disciple) that thou wilt mani-
fest thyself unto us and not unto the world." (John
xiv.)
One thought more on the call of Samuel. The
mercy that was thus preventing, unexpected, un-
looked for, and secret, silent, and personal, became
also powerful, effectual, and sure, to all the gra-
cious purposes. He that called the child called
not in vain. A marvellous light shined with the
voice in the heart, and a commanding power accom-
panied it within. Samuel never lost sight of it, I
venture to believe, through all the after-stages of
his life. Both the time and place, the manner and
effect, no doubt became like Bethel to Jacob, so
that he could say with the patriarch, u Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. How
dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the
house of God and this is the gate of heaven." (Gen.
xxviii. Ih 17.)
I cannot prevail upon myself to dismiss our view
of Samuel before that I have first requested the reader
to remark with me some features in the portrait of
this great prophet, which bear resemblance, how-
ever faint, to the person and offices of the Lord God
of the prophets, Jesus Christ. Samuel, we are
told, was so called to shew that he was asked of
God. And how earnestly was the Lord Jesus
asked by the Old Testament saints before his com-
ing ! How blessedly did Jehovah, in the opening
of Samuel's life, point to the Lord Jesus as the
faithful Priest he would raise up, who should do
according to all that was in his heart (2 Sam. ii.
35.) And what a delightful view doth the prophet
Samuel exhibit, as typical of the Lord Christ, under
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805
the several offices he sustained, not only as pro-
phet, as Priest and as Judge in Israel !
SANBALLAT. The great enemy to Israel after
their return from the captivity of Babylon : (see
Neh. ii. 10. 19. and ch. vi.) The name is not strictly
derived from the Hebrew : it hath been thought that
as Sene means bush, and Lut, to hide, the union of
those words forming a suitable name for the ene-
mies of God's people, Sanballat was so called to
imply an enemy in secret.
SANCT1FICATION. Very much hath been said
in the christian church respecting sanctification ;
some making it the work of the creature, as if a
man that is a polluted creature could sanctify him-
self; and others referring the whole work into the
sovereignty and grace of the Lord. It may not
be improper in a work of this kind to examine the
doctrine by the standard of Scripture, which is the
only unerring standard, in order to form a right
judgment upon a point of such infinite conse-
quence.
It will be a sure plan in forming just conceptions
of sanctification, if we bring all that is said of it
in Scripture under these two distinct branches,
namely, the sanctification which means setting
apart, consecrating, or appointing to solemn and
holy purposes — and the sanctification which means
making that holy which before was polluted and
defiled. I venture to believe that under one oi
other of these distinct particulars every thing in
Scripture relating to sanctification maybe included.
Concerning the first mentioned, the sanctification
which means to set apart, to consecrate, or appro-
priate, to solemn and holy purposes, we meet with
expressions in Scripture leading to this in both Tes-
taments. Thus it is said that when Jehovah had
finished the works of creation, he blessed the
806
seventh day, and sanctified it — that is, set it apart
for his more immediate honor. (Gen. ii. 3.) So again
holy places were set apart and sanctified in their
separation from ordinary things : thus the taber-
nacle, and all the vessels of the ministry under the
law were sanctified. In like manner the first-born
were all set apart as the Lord's right—" The Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all
the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb,
among the children of Israel both of man and beast,
it is mine." (Exod. xiii. 1, 2.) When the Lord thus
claims it for his own, and saith, it is mine, it means
not that this sanctifying it to the Lord's use made the
first-born holy, but that it set it apart for his service.
In like manner, when the Lord Jesus Christ saith,
"for their sakes I sanctify myself," (John xvii. 19.)
surely he did not mean to say that he made himself
more holy, for that was impossible, but that for the
sake of his church and people he set himself apart
in dedicating himself to God as their Surety and
Saviour. Thus much may serve to explain the for-
mer sense of sanctification of persons and things dedi-
cated to God.
The other sense of sanctification in making that
holy which before was polluted and defiled, is by
much the most general sense of the term sanctifying
in Scripture. Thus the church of the Corinthians
when regenerated and brought into fellowship with
Christ's mystical body, aresaidto have been cleans-
ed and purified thereby : And such, saith the apostle
(speaking to characters notoriously known to have
been once in the filth and under the dominion of
sin, but now brought nigh by the blood of Christ,
" and such were some of you ; but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our
God."(l Cor. vi. 11.)
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807
But the most essential point in sanctifi cation is to
enquire concerning- the source and fountain of it,
not being' founded in creature-power, or creature-
holiness, but wholly in the Lord ; and this will
very fully appear from what the Scripture saith con-
cerning it. All the persons of the Godhead concur
and co-operate in the work. That God the Father
is the author and giver of it, is plain from what the
apostles Paul and Jude have said. The former in
his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, prays that
the God of peace may sanctify them wholly ; (1 Thes.
v. 23.) — and the latter expressly addresseth his
Epistle to them that are sanctified by God the Fa-
ther. (Jude 1.) And that God the Son is no less the
author of sanctification is evident, because the very
purpose for which he gave himself for his church
was that he might sanctify and cleanse it. (Ephes.
v. 23.) And concerning God the Holy Ghost it is
said, by the apostle to the Thessalonians, that we
are bound to give thanks always to God, because
from the beginning the church is chosen to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. (2 Thess. ii.
13.)
It is most blessed and refreshing to a soul thus
to trace the doctrine to its source, and behold all
the glorious persons of the Godhead as the united
authors of it; and while we are justified freely by
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, to see also
that all our sanctification is of him, and that " he is
made of God to us wisdom and righteousness, sanc-
tification and redemption, that he that glorieth may
glory in the Lord. (1 Cor. i. 30, 31.)
And were it not for trespassing too largely in this
article, it would be blessed to trace sanctification
through all its branches, and to discover the Lord's
hand in every one. The beginning of it is of the
Lord. "He saith Paul, that hath begun the good work
808
in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ."
(Phil. i. 6.) The keeping it alive in the soul is of
the Lord, for he saith, " The path of the just is as a
shining- light, that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day." (Prov. iv. 18.) The restoration of it
when at any time under decaying circumstances is
of the Lord. " They shall revive (saith the Lord)
as the corn, and grow as the vine. (Hos. xiv. 7.)
" Because 1 live, ye shall live also." (John xiv. 19.)
The final perseverance of it is of the Lord ; for
in the covenant of grace the charter runs thus — u I
will not turn away from them to do them good, but
I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall
not depart from me." (Jer. xxxii. 40.) Most blessed-
ly, therefore, and graciously the Lord undertakes
for both — I will not, saith God, and they shall not.
Glorious Security ! And finally to add no more — as
the commencement of all grace and sanctification
is in God, so the consummation of all glory is in
him also. Jesus, who justifies and sanctifies his
people freely, hath engaged to complete the whole
for Jehovah's glory and his people's happiness. It
is said that the whole purport of redemption is that
he might finally and fully, and completely, present
his church to himself u a glorious church not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blemish." Oh, the un-
speakable felicity of being clothed in his garments
of righteousness, and presented by Jesus, and to
Jesus, in that day before Jehovah and a congre-
gated world, holy, and sanctified in his holiness and
sanctity, and made so for ever !
SANCTUARY. The Scriptures have several distinct
meanings for this word, according as the word it-
self is made use of. The apostle to the Hebrews
describes the sanctuary how it was appointed, (chap,
ix. 1 — 5.) No doubt the sanctuary was a type of
809
Jehovah's throne in heaven; hence (Ps. cii. 19.) the
Lord is represented as " looking down from the
height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord
behold the earth." The church of Christ is repre-
sented as the Lord's sanctuary under the type of
the holy land. (Exod. xv. 17, 18.) And there is
another very sweet and precious figure of the
Lord's sanctuary, when his people are considered
in this light. The psalmist celebrates this in one
of the loftiest strains of sacred poetry : (Ps. cxiv.)
" When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of
Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah
was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea
saw it and fled, Jordan was driven back.
SANDALS. We meet with this word but twice in
the Scripture, Mark vi. 9. Actsxii. 8. They formed
the covering far the feet. In the eastern part of the
world the going barefoot was considered as a token
of respect in the presence of a superior ; hence,
when the Lord called to Moses from the bush, he
commanded him to put off his shoes from his feet,
for the ground was holy on which he stood, being
made so by the divine presence. (Exod. iii. 5.)
Hence Soloman also, in after-ages, admonished to
keep the foot when going to the house of God.
(Eccles. v. L)
SANSANNAH. A city of Judah, (Josh. xv. 31.) If
Senah, a bush, it should seem to mean u the bush
of the bush."
SAPH. Of the race of the giants. (2 Sam. xxi. 18.)
His name signifies rushes.
SARAH. A memorable name in Scripture well
known to all lovers of the Bible. The wife of Abra-
ham. Various have been the interpretations given
to her name, according to the root from whence
various commentators on the Bible have supposed
it to have been derived. The most general opinion
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hath been, that it is taken from Shar, prince ; and
if so Sharah or Sarah will be princess. It would be
to give an abridgement of that part of the word of
God which contains the history of Sarah to am-
plify observations in this place on her character.
The reader will do well to turn to the relation
given of her in the book of Genesis, and in sum-
ming up her character to recollect what honorable
testimony the Holy Ghost hath given of Sarah in
giving her a place among those illustrious persons
who all died, as they had lived, in faith, u not hav-
ing received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them. It is but a short inscription over Sarah's
portrait in those lively pictures of the faithful, but
it is a very blessed one, "She judged him faithful
who had promised." (Heb. xi. 11 — 13.)
Though I think it unnecessary to swell the pages
of this Concordance with the history of Sarah, be-
cause we have it already most blessedly set forth
in the holy Scriptures, yet I cannot shut up this
article without making a short observation on that
beautiful allegory which the Holy Ghost hath given
us in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, fourth chap-
ter, and twenty-second and following verses. Under
the history of Sarah and Hagar, the Holy Ghost
there teacheth the church that he hath represented
the two covenants of the gospel and the law. No
man upon earth, untaught of God the Holy Ghost,
would ever have had the most distant idea of those
things being shadowed forth in Sarah and Hagar's
history, had not the Lord the Spirit so taught. But
being there so beautifully and strikingly explained,
it becomes a subject of sweet consolation and
instruction, and gives to all true believers in Christ
new occasion to bless God when discovering their
relationship in Jesus, that they " as Isaac was, are
Sil
the children of promise." It is indeed most blessed
to discover that "we are not children of the bond-
woman, but of the free."
SARDIS. A city of Asia. One of the seven churches
to whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent the solemn
message in the second and third chapters of the
book of the Revelations. If it be derived from the
word Sharar, it means to rule, or of authority.
SATAN. One of the names of the devil; and as all
the names of this apostate spirit have special signi-
fication beside that of identifying his person, we
may consider this of Satan as implying that horrid
part of his character, the adversary and accuser of
the brethren. Thus he is particularly called Satan
as the accuser, Job i. and Zech. iii. l,&c.
It would form subject sufficient for a volume
more than a Concordance to enter inio the particu-
lars the Holy Bible hath given us concerning this
old serpent, the devil, and Satan which deceiveth
the whole world. Nevertheless, in a work of this
kind, I cannot prevail upon myself to pass it wholly
by, without offering a few brief observations con-
cerning the Scripture account which is given us of
ong, to whose infernal malice we owe all the mis-
eries, sorrows, and evils of the present life.
Now the Scriptures of God relate to us that the
devil, under the appearance of a serpent, beguiled
our first parents in the garden of Eden, prompted
them to break the divine commands, and by so
doing introduced death into the circumstances of
them and all their posterity.
The Scriptures farther teach concerning Satan,
that having thus by the introduction of sin brought
in all the consequent effects of sorrow and misery,
he hath set up a kingdom in the hearts of men, and
is u the ruler of the darkness of this world," and
carries on a despotic government over all men, yea
812
even the Lord's own children while remaining in
their unregenerate and unawakened state. Hence
he enticeth them to sin, as he did Ahab, when he
became a lying spirit in the mouth of all his pro-
phets. (1 Kings xxii. 22.) And the same in the
instance of Ananias and Sapphira, when he filled
their hearts to lie unto the Holy Ghost. (Acts v. 3,
&c.) So in the case of Hannah while going child-
less, he is said to have made her fret. (1 Sam.
i. 6.) In like manner the traitor Judas, concerning
whom it is expressly said, " Satan, entered into
him." (John xiii. 27.)
Hence, therefore, when the Lord Jesus Christ is
spoken of in the holy Scriptures as coming for the
redemption of his people, this great feature of
character is intimately linked with it ; " for this pur-
pose was the Son of God manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil." (1 John iii. 8.) So
again the apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the He-
brews, was commissioned to tell the church that for-
asmuch " as the children were partakers of flesh
and blood, he, that is, Christ, also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, ihat is,
the devil, and deliver them who through fear of
death were all their life-time subject to bondage.
(Eieb. ii. 14, 15.)
1 stay not to remark, what hath not indeed in so
many plain words Scripture authority, positively
saying so, but what hath been the received opinion
of learned and studious minds in all ages ponder-
ing over the word of God on this subject, that the
devil's enmity began not with our nature, but with
the Son of God for assuming our nature. Person-
ally first with Christ, and then with all mankind in
Christ, that so he might persecute and render
miserable the seed of Christ. ■ I must not go so far
813
into the subject as to bring in all that the Scripture
seems to intimate of the quarrel of the devil being
first levelled against Christ for becoming the Head
of his body the church. This would lead too far.
The war, said to be in heaven between Michael and
his angels, and the Dragon and his angels, (Rev. xii.
7.) hath been thought by some very able and lear-
ned divines to say as much. But 1 do not speak
decidedly on the subject, though I had not even
mentioned it, if ] had not inclined to the same
opinion. But be this as it may, very certain it is,
that among the grand purposes for which the Son of
God became incarnate this was eminently one, that
he should conquer the devil and all the powers of
hell, aud u root out of his kingdom all things th?it
offend." This formed as great a part in the plan of
Jehovah for the glory of Christ, as the salvation of
men for his glory.
In this view of the subject, if we take a compre-
hensive survey of what the Scriptures have said on
the matter, we shall find that the kingdom Satan
hath attempted to set up in the earth is personally
directed against the kingdom of God and of his
Christ : hence our Lord, speaking of Satan, calleth
his empire a kingdom. Thus, when the Jews
charged the Lord Jesus with casting out devils
through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, Christ
made this answer, " If Satan cast out Satan he is
divided against himself: how shall then his kingdom
stand?" (Matt. xii. 26.) So that the struggle of
the powers of darkness, in opposing the Lord of
life and glory, hath been from first to last directed
against Christ's kingdom, and to establish the king-
dom of Satan through the earth.
When therefore we behold the Lord Jesus going
forth for the salvation of his people, we behold
8M S A
him, as he is represented through all the Scrip-
tures, as first conquering Satan in his own person,
and then destroying- his dominion in the hearts of
his people. The first he did when through death,
as the Scripture speaks, he destroyed him
that had the power of death ; and the second con-
quest was, and is, in every individual instance of
his people, when by his regenerating grace in the
sinner's heart he converts him from sin to salvation,
and the sinner is translated out of "the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." (Col.
L 13.)
And there is another and a more open display of
victory which the Lord Jesus Christ will obtain
over Satan, before a whole congregated world,
when he will set up a visible kingdom upon earth
before the final judgment, during which period the
Scriptures tell us Satan will be shut up, and his
power restrained from tempting any of Christ's
church, as he now is permitted to do, neither will
he during that period be allowed to deceive the
world, and make the ungodly harrass and afflict
Christ's people any more. The beloved apostle
John, in one of the chapters of the Revelations,
hath most sublimely stated those great truths, (chap,
xx. 1, &c.) " And I saw an angel come down from
heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a
great chain in his hand ; and he laid hold of the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast
him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the
nations no more till the thousand years should be
fulfilled ; and after that he must be loosed a little
season." To this account succeeds the relation of
Christ's kingdom upon the earth. u And I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was
815
giveu unto them. And I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and
for the word of God, and which had not worship-
ped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads or in their
hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years."
To this succeeds the account of the final and
everlasting triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over
Satan, when bringing this infernal spirit to open
trial before the whole world of angels and of men
at the last day, the day of judgment. At the close
of which follows the everlasting and eternal des-
truction of the devil and his angels in hell for
ever.
I must not farther enlarge. Let what hath been
said suffice to comfort every child of God under
all the exercises he is called to go through, from
the subtilty of Satan still working upon, and with
the remains of indwelling corruption in our poor
fallen nature. Blessed be our triumphant Jesus,
his devices are but for a season, for Christ hath
conquered him for us, and he will conquer him in
us ; the victory is not doubtful, for it is already
won, and "the God of peace will bruise Satan
under our feet shortly." (Rom. xvi. 20.) In the
meantime let us join that song of heaven, for we
truly bear a part in it — " Now is come salvation and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the
power of his Christ, for the accuser of our bre-
thren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night. And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the
death." (Rev. xii. 10, 11.)
SAVIOUR. The peculiar name and character of our
.Lord Jesus Christ, including most evidently both
816
natures, God and man, and thereby forming one
Christ. Had he not been God, how should he
have been able to save, for who less than God
can save ? And had he not been man, there would
not have been a suitability in the Lord Jesus Christ
for such an office, justice so requiring that the same
nature which sinned, and broke the divine law,
should atone and make ample restoration. So
that in the character of the Saviour we behold
Christ, and Christ alone, the suited Saviour for his
people. Hence we find him assuming to himself
this distinction of character — " I, even I, am the
Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour." (Isa. xliii.
11. So again, Isa. xliv. 21, 22.) " There is no God
else beside me, a just God, and a Saviour ; there
is none beside me, Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else."
In this view of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Sa-
viour, it is blessed to behold not only the ability, in
perfection of character and completeness of work,
in the person of the Lord Jesus, but also the autho-
rity by which he came and accomplished the glori-
ous office of a Saviour. God the Father declared
that he sent him as a Saviour and a great one, and
he should deliver his people, and his name should
be called Jesus : (see Isa. xix. 20. Matt. i. 21.)
Hence the believer in Christ finds a just warrant
for faith to rest upon, not only in the completeness
of what Christ hath wrought, but also in the
appointment and approbation of God the Father :
so that here the preciousness of the Saviour, and
the preciousness of the salvation, come home en-
deared to the heart.
SAUL. King- of Israel. His name is as remarkable
as his history, if it be derived, as some have thought,
from Sheol, or Shaal, hell, or sepulchre. His
817
history we have at large in the first hook of Samuel.
The great apostle Paul, whose name was originally
Saul, may, it is probable, have had his name chang-
ed at his conversion on this account : but this,
the reader will recollect, is only conjecture.
SCEPTRE. This word in Scripture language seems
to be intended for much more than is generally
annexed to the term in ordinary speech. By scep-
tre we connect with the idea some insignia, or
staff of office ; but as the same word is used in
Scripture in a very different sense as well, it cer-
tainly merits our attention, that we may not confine
it to the one meaning only, but take it in both.
It is well known that the word Shebeth, which is
translated sceptre in the memorable prophecy of
the dying patriarch Jacob when declaring that the
u sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until the Shiloh
should come," (Gen. xlix. 10.) is also translated,
Judg. v. 14, pen. The whole passage is, u Out
of Zebuluu they that handle the pen (Shebeth) of
Ihe writer." So that the word, it should seem, is
equally to be used for sceptre or pen.
Now if I mistake not (and if I do, may the Lord
pardon the unintentional error), there is an uncom-
mon beauty in the word, as used in both places, in
reference to the Lord Jesus. Why may not both
his regal office, and his prophetical office, be sup-
posed as implied ? The sceptre of Judah, and the
pen of Zebulun, both might bear part in reference
to Christ. The prophet Isaiah was commissioned
to tell the church, " that the dimness should not be
such as was in her vexation when at the first he
lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land
of Naphtali." But at the coming of him whom
the prophet was about to speak of, "the people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they
vol. vi. 3 G
818
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon
them hath the light shined. (Isa. ix. 1, &c.) And
whosoever compares what Isaiah hath said in this
chapter with Matt. iv. 13— 16, will I think conclude
that the Shebeth of Judah, and the Shebeth of Ze-
bulun, are only beautiful duplicates, under differ-
ent views of office, both pointing to the Lord Jesus,
and only applicable to him. I beg the reader to
observe that I do not speak decidedly upon the
subject — I only venture to offer what hath been said
by way of conjecture. Of one thing I am very sure :
the Old Testament, as well as the New, is full of
Christ ; and it is blessed to catch a glimpse of him
in places where we least expected. See Shiloh.
SCORPION. When we consider the wilderness-
state through which the Lord brought the church
after coming out of Egypt, and hear what the Lord
saith to his people concerning his care over them
there, it is very blessed to trace a subject so abun-
dantly interesting. " Who led thee (saith the Lord)
through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein
vere hery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,
where there was no water," (Deut. viii. 15) There
is somewhat so very gracious in this, especially
when we consider what naturalists tell us of the
venomous quality of those reptiles. Though the
scorpion is not a large animal, yet its bite, unless
restrained by the Lord, was sure death. The crea-
ture had a bladder full of poison, which he conveyed
with his bite into the wound. And as the scorpion
had two eyes at each extremity, and one species of
scorpions possessed wings like the locusts, what
could be more formidable to the traveller through
the hot, sultry, unwatered wilderness !
What a sweet thought is it to the church of
Christ, that as this vras a figure of the present life,
it is Jesus that now speaks to his people in the same
S C 819
gracious language, while they are going home
through their eventful pilgrimage ! What scorpions,
what fiery flying serpents, do they meet with in
every part of their warfare! " Behold, (saith the Lord
Jesus) I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions, and overall the power of the enemy, and
nothing shall by any means hurt you." (Luke x. 19.)
And they find the truth of this promise every step
they take. " No weapon formed against them can
prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise against
them in judgment the Lord will condemn. This is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord ; and their
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." (Isa.liv, 17.)
SCRIBE. We read in the Old Testament Scripture
of this office in the time of the Kings, and it should
seem at that time that it was an employment of
great power. Thus when the king of Assyria sent
to Hezekiah a blasphemous message and letter, we
are told that then came out to the messengers
Eleakim, which was over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and Joah the recorder. (2Kings xviii. 18.)
And the name in the Hebrew for scribe, Sepher,
seems to intimate a person of learning. In the days of
our Lord the scribes were among the leading men of
the nation. One thinghowever appears striking, and
worthy our notice, namely learned as they might be in
thelaw,they were ignorantof the spiritual senseof it.
And what an awful string of woes hath the Lord
Jesus caused to be recorded concerning them !
(Matt, xxiii. 13. to the end.)
SCRIPTURES. By Scriptures are specially and
particularly meant the holy Scriptures, which "are
able to make us wise unto salvation, through the
faith which is in Christ Jesus." In the strict sense
of the word, Scriptures no doubt mean writings,
generally speaking, for all writings are Scriptures ;
but long use bath long fixed to the term the Holy
3 g 2
820 S C
Scriptures, and them only, including the two books
of UieOldandNewTestament. The Apocryphais no
more implied in the term Scriptures than any other
uninspired writings of fallible men. But the blessed
Book of God, comprized as it is in the two sacred
canons of the Old aud New Testament, form the
Holy Scriptures, concerning which, as the Lord
Jesus saith of the breasts of his spouse, they are
like two young roes that are twins. (Song iv. 5.)
And it is most blessed to see what a beautiful
harmony there is between them. Doth the Old
Testament shadow forth by type and figure the
person, work, character, and relation of the Lord
Jesus Christ ? And what is the New Testament
record but the sum and substance of the same?
Doth the Old Testament relate the prophecies, hold
forth the promises, and insist upon the doctrines,
which were to be revealed openly, and completed
in the person of Jesus? And is not Jesus, in the
testimony given of him in the New Testament, the
spirit of prophecy, the yea and amen of all the pro-
mises, and the pardon and remission of sins, the
glorious doctrine in his blood and righteousness
fully proclaimed and confirmed to his church and
people? In short, the former prefigured, and the
latter realized, the immense event of salvation, and
all in Christ. Nothing do we find predicted of Jesus
in the Old Testament but what the New brought
forth the accomplishment of; and nothing that we
hear of or meet with concerning the person and
glory of Christ in the New Testament, but what the
Old had foretold. So that when reading the one
fulfilled in the other, we may say, in language simi-
lar to what the disciples did after Jesus was glori-
fied— * These things they understood not at the first
but when Jesus was glorified then remembered
they that these things were written of him, and that
S E S2l
they had done these things unto him." (Johnxii. 16.)
Such then is the meaning of the word Scriptures.
And it is the most blessed of all employments to
be everlastingly studying those precious oracles of
divine truth, which the Lord Jesus so strongly en-
joined in relation to the Old Testament, and which
all his believing people find more refreshing than
their Decessary food, both in the Old and New.
u Search the Scriptures, (said that dear Lord) for
in them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are
they which testify of me." (John v. 38.) "Thy words
were found, (said one of the prophets) and I did
eat them, and they were unto me the joy and rejoic-
ing of my heart." (Jer. xv. 16.) -Oh, how 1 love thy law
(said another) it is my meditation all the day ! The
law of thy mouth is dearer unto me than thousands
of gold and silver." (Ps. cxix. 97. 72.)
SEA. The Hebrews called the ocean Jam, and they
called also the lakes and rivers, and even large pools,
by the same name. They distinguished the different
seas with which they were acquainted with different
names, as the Red Sea, the Salt Sea, the Great Sea,
the Dead Sea, and the like ; andtheentrance is some-
times called the tongue of the sea. (Isa. xi. 15.)
It is worthy remark, however, that Jerusalem,
which the Lord chose for his people, had no sea or
navigable river near it. There was no river of
any consequence belonging to it but the sacred
river Jordan, so that Jerusalem had not, as most
cities, a garrison, or rocks, or water, to defeud it,
neither of maritime resources to open commerce
'and trade with other powers. But what the holy
city wanted in those supplies of nature and art the
Lord abundantly compensated in his presence td
protect, and in the supplv of his manifold gifts to
bless. The prophet beautifully speaks of this in
his usual style of devotion and elegant e — " Thou
822 S E
shall not see (saith he, speaking of the glory of all
lands) a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech
than thou canst perceive, of a stammering tongue
that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion,
the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes shall see Jeru-
salem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not
be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords
thereof be broken : but there the glorious Lord will
be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams,
wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall
gallant ship pass thereby." (Isa. xxxiii. 19 — 21.)
SEAL. We find the use of seals of great antiquity,
and they are so spoken of through the whole book
of God. Judah gave Tamor the seal, or signet
and pledge, as a token. (Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18.) And
the custom was uniform among all the persons of the
east. (1 Kings xxi. 8. Estheriii. 12.) But what I have
thought particularly worth our notice under this
article is, that the Lord himself condescends to
make use of this custom in relation to divine things.
Hence the work of the Holy Ghost upon the heart
is called the seal of the Spirit. (Ephes. i. 13.)
Yea Christ himself is said to be sealed by the
Father. (John vi. 27.) And very sweetly the
church, under the consciousness of these precious
things being sealed, cries out in an earnestness to
her Beloved, " Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm ; for love is strong as death
jealousy is cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are
coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."
(Song viii. 6.) Some have thought that this is the
desire of Christ, to be set as a seal upon the
arm and in the heart of the church, and for the
same reasons. And it is possible it may be so ;
indeed I see no reason why we may not make ap-
plication of them to both. But be this as it may
823
the Scripture sense of sealing is the same ; Christ
desires his church, and his church desires her
Christ, that there may be such a nearness, and
connection, and union, and intimacy between then
as is formed between those where the arm is always
lifted up to protect and help, and the heart hath
an everlasting- impression in love abiding-, so that
the person and interest is never taken off from the
mind. Abide in me, said Jesus to his disciples, and
J in you. (John xv. 4.) One in heart, in mind, in all !
SEED. This word is differently used in Scripture —
sometimes in figure, and at others literally. It is
used in a way of figure when spoken of the word of
God ; thus Christ compares his word to " seed cast
into the ground." (Luke viii. 5.) Peter calls it the
* incorruptible seed which liveth and abidetli for
ever." (1 Pet. i. 23.) But it is used in a literal sense
also when referring to the increase of men or
beasts. (Jer. xxxi. 27.) And it is used in a spirit-
ual sense when the faithful in Christ Jesus are called
the seed of Abraham, (Gal. iii. 29.) And yet in a
still more peculiar, personal, and eminent manner
when considered in relation to our union with
Christ ; "1 will pour my Spirit (saith Jehovah to
Christ) upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
offspring." (Isa. xliv. 3. lix. 21.)
SEER. We read in the First Book of Samuel that he
" who was then called a prophet was before time
called a seer." (1 Sam. ix. 9.) I think it is very
remarkable, however, that there is this striking
difference between the two names, in that we find
the word seer made use of as being the king's seer,
but when the name of prophet is used, it is said
"the prophet of the Lord." Thus of Samuel it is said
that " all Israel, from Dan even to Beershcba, knew
that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the
Lord." (1 Sam. iii. 20.) But concerning the name
824
of seer, we find frequent mention made of this cha-
racter, not as the Lord's seer, but the king's ; thus
Gad is called the prophet Gad, but expressly said
to be David's seer; (see 2 Sam. xxiv. 11.) So
Heman is called the king's seer, though he is not
said to have been a prophet of the Lord. (1 Chron.
xxv. 5.) I do not presume to explain the circum-
stances wherein the difference lies. Some have
thought that a seer was only a recorder of the
events of the king's reign. A prophet was one
who acted in the Lord's name, and by the Lord's
authority. The offices in this case no doubt dif-
fered, but, as in the instance of Gad, might be
performed by one and the same person. But I add
no farther observations on the subject.
SEIR. See Mount Seir.
SELAH. This is a pure Hebrew word, and written
exactly as it is here. The translators of the Bible
have thought proper to preserve it entire as they
found it. We find it scattered up and down in the
book of the Psalms no less than seventy times ;
sometimes several times in one Psalm, and in
many of the Psalms not at all. It is three times
also in the third chapter of Habakkuk, and no
where else that I remember in all the Scripture.
It would furnish matter for a separate treatise to
bring into one view all that hath been said upon
this word Selah ; and after all we should be still
left to conjecture. Some ancient writers have con-
sidered it as a word of particular observation, as if
Selah meant to tell the reader to pause, and con-
sider what went before. But this opinion is liable to
great objection; for in this case David and Habak-
kuk are the only writers that thus impress consi-
deration on their Readers, and they not always,
neither at what we should consider the most strik-
ing parts of their writings : and if this were indeed
825
the sense of Selah, how eomes it that not one of
the Lord's servants have ever used it?
Others, and that a great majority of writers on
Scripture, have concluded that the word Selah had
reference to the music in the temple-service, and
was a note of the ancient psalmody, but which now
and for a long time, hath lost its use. This opinion
doth not seem more satisfactory than the former ;
for supposing this to be the case, it were unaccount-
able that the Holy Ghost should have uniformly
watched over the word so as to preserve it with
equal care as the Scriptures themselves with which
the word is connected.
One class more have concluded that the word
Selah means an end, not unlike the Amen. And
though there might seem an objection to this, in
that the word is more frequently found in the
middle part of the psalm or hymn, and not at the
last verse, yet, say they, the sense of that part ends
there. 1 humbly conceive that this explanation,
though in part it may be right, yet is not wholly so.
If the word Selah means the end, perhaps it may
be found not to mean the end of the Psalm, or the
end of that part of the Psalm where it stands, but
to a higher end, even pointing to him who is " the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth," and to whom the law of Moses, and
the prophets, and the Psalms, all refer as the end.
(Luke xxiv. 44.) He is the great end, no doubt, as
well as the beginning, in his mediatorial character,
of all the creation of God, the Amen, and the
faithful witness of heaven. (Rev. iii. 14.) But here
1 leave the subject. I am persuaded the word
Selah is important ; and I am inclined to think, like
some other words preserved to us in the Psalms that
it refers to Christ. If the reader wishes to look at these
other words, let him turn to the word Musician.
826
SENNACHERIB. A well-known enemy of the
church of the living- God. We have his history as
far as relates to the church, 2 Kings xviii. 13.
His name it should seem is a compound of Sennah,
the sword; and Charab, to destroy.
Though I should not have thought it worth the
record of even inserting this man's name in a work
of this kind, neither would his name have been
remembered in history, had it not been for being
connected with the church's history, yet as that
part of his history which relates to the church
opens a beautiful lesson, for instruction, I hope the
Reader will indulge me with adding a few lines
more before that we dismiss the recollection of the
impious character of Sennacherib.
We are told that in the Lord's delivering the church
from the threatenings and slaughter of this man, the
" angel of the Lord went out that night, and smote
in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred, four-
score, and five thousand; and when they arose in
the morning, behold they were all dead corpses."
(2 Kings xix. 35.) By the angel of the Lord we
may suppose is meant the messenger of the Lord,
for so the word is. It is not necessary to connect
the meaning of the passage, as if it was one of those
beings of light which are called angels. Some have
thought that this visitation from the Lord was by-
pestilence, or one of those fatal winds which are
known to visit those climates, which, wheresoever
they come, they sweep off with the besom of destruc-
tion. And they who have construed the passage in
this sense have observed that it is said by the Lord,
before the judgment took place. " Behold, I will
send a blast upon him." See the parallel history,
lsa. xxxvii. And as it was by night, and the As-
syrian camp unprepared for so unexpected a judg-
ment, this blast, like a devouring fire, entered the
827
camp, commissioned by the Lord, and destroyed
them. One circumstance is related which seems
very striking — in the morning- they were all dead
corpses. Those who have witnessed the injury
done by this pestilential meteor, or fiery wind, or
blast, relate that the bodies so destroyed are
quickly after reduced to ashes as if calcined or
burnt in an oven. When we consider what is said
of the Siroc winds of the warm though milder
climates than Africa, I mean Sicily and Malta, we
may easily conceive how fatal the Semyel, or
Simoon as they are called, of those pestilential
climates may be, especially when commissioned by
the Lord. And the slaughter of such an army in
one night carried with it the fullest and most
decided testimony that it was indeed effected by
the messenger, the angel of the Lord.
I have introduced this observation of the Lord's
judgment on Sennacherib's army by way of intro-
ducing another, namely, what safety are the people
of the Lord brought into when all the creation of
God waits as ministering servants to execute the
divine judgments on their enemies! " Winds and
storms fulfilling his word," sickness and the
word, angels and messengers, all wait to execute
the Lord's commands. " Are they not all (saith the
Scripture) ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? (Heb.
i. 14.) Hence with an eye to Christ, and to his
people secured in him, the Lord's promise runs —
"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under
his wings shalt thou trust ; his truth shall be thy
shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for ihe arrow that flieth by
day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand
828
at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee."
(Ps. xci. throughout.) First spoken to Christ, and
then to all the seed of Christ everlastingly secured
in him.
SEPHARVAIM. We read (Gen. x. 30.) of an
antient mount in the east called Sephar — and it is
probable that the Sepharvaims were of this land ;
but from whence the name is, it is difficult to say.
Sepher means book, or scribe ; but we know of no
writings or books before Moses. When Shalmene-
ser, king- of Assyria, had besieged Samaria, and
carried away the children of Israel captive, we are
told that he brought men from Sepharvaitn and
other places, and put them in Samaria. (See
2 Kings xvii. 24.) But what is most worthy our
notice is, that in the Lord's displeasure with Israel
he should not only cause his people to be led into
captivity, but Samaria to be inhabited by idolaters.
Those Sepharvites, we are told, burnt their chil-
dren in the fire to their dunghill idol. (See 2 Kings
xvii. from 24. to the end, which is an interesting
record.)
I hope the reader will make a suitable application
from this affecting account. The Lord hath pro-
mised that his church, which is founded upon a
rock, shall never be removed, neither shall the
gates of hell prevail against it ; but he hath no
where promised that that church shall be confined
to any nation or kingdom. The golden candlestick
is a moveable furniture in the Lord's house ; and
the Lord hath said to a sinful land that he will
" come unto it quickly, and remove their candlestick
out of his place." The Lord Jesus said this to the
once flourishing church of Ephesus ; and the Lord
fulfilled the awful threatening. For where is now
that church ? yea, where are now the seven flourish-
ing churches of Asia? Alas ! there is not a vestige
829
of either remaining. And they are now the huts of
a few miserable fishermen the ignorant followers of
Mahometan superstition. (Rev. ii. and iii. through-
out.) Oh, that the Lord may raise up a praying
seed to wrestle with him night and day for our
siuful land!
SEPULCHRE. I should not have noticed this
word in our Concordance by way of explanation of
the term, for that is unnecessary — every one knows
that it means a burial place, or grave ; but the
reason I have paused over this word, and for which
I presume that the reader will desire to pause too,
is in respect to that memorable one in which the
holy body of the Lord Jesus for a space lay. Here
the mind will find subject for unceasing meditation.
The sepulchre of the Lord Jesus, no doubt, be-
came a sacred spot, dear to every beholder, as soon
as the eastern world became subject to the christian
faith. But the thorough change which took place at
the overthrow of Jerusalem, which our Lord pre-
dicted, and which was literally fulfilled when "not
one stone was left upon another that was not thrown
down," totally altered the face of this sepulchre,
as well as the whole of the holy city. They who
have made again of relics, and got money by shew-
ing spots and places, do, no doubt to this hour, pre-
tend to shew the tomb where Jesus lay, and num-
berless circumstances connected with the history.
But these things are impossible ; hence in proof
we know that Jesus suffered without the gate.
(Heb. xii>. 12.) — consequently Mount Calvary was
without the gate ; whereas now Calvary is almost
in the centre of Jerusalem. So also Mount Zion,
which in our Lord's days, and before, was on a
hill, and the most beautiful eminence of the old Je-
rusalem, but is now excluded from the city, and the
ditches around the base of it are filled in. So
830
that it may with truth be said, that there are scarce
any remains of the city as it was in the days of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
" Yet" saith Dr. Shaw in his Travels, (page 334.
folio edition) " notwithstanding these changes and
revolutions, it is highly probable that a faithful tra-
diton hath always been preserved of the several
places that were consecrated, as it were, by some
remarkable transaction relating to our Saviour and
his apostles. For it cannot be doubted but that,
among others, Mount Calvary, and the cave where
our Saviour was buried, were well known to his
disciples and followers."
Indeed as a confirmation to this, it is well known
that the emperor Adrian, the bitter enemy of Chris-
tianity, in contempt to Christ, caused an image of
heathenish idolatry to be erected in those hallowed
spots where Jesus was born, and another where he
was crucified, and a third at his speulchre. And all
these continued to the days of Constantine, when the
whole empire becoming professors of Christianity,
the images were then removed, and churches built
in their place.
But while it remains an impossibility in the pre-
sent hour to ascertain the very spot of Christ's
sepulchre, the sepulchre itself opens the same sa-
cred subject of devout meditation. Here the faith
of the believer may frequently take wing, and still
hear by faith the angels' invitation — " Come, see the
place where the Lord lay." From hence it was the
first clear views were made of the invisible world ;
and from hence all the faithful are taught to follow,
in sure and certain hope, their risen and ascended
Saviour to the everlasting mansions of the blessed.
That pure and holy corn of heavenly wheat which
then fell into the ground did not abide alone, but
by dying hath given life in his life to all his seed,
S E 831
and become thereby the first fruits of them that
sleep. (John xii. 24.)
SERA I AH. There were several of this name in the
Old Testament. (2 Sam. viii. 17. 1 Chron. iv. 14.
35. Jer. lii. 24.) The name seems to be compound-
of Sera, or Shera, to govern — and Jah : hence it
means the Lord is my governor.
SERAPHIM. The name is one with cherubim. See .
Cheruh. It is derived from Sharaph, or Seraph,
to burn. Hence the burning serpents were called
Seraphim. (Num. xxi. G.)
SERPENT. The interesting circumstance as related
in the very opening of the Bible concerning the sub-
tlety of the serpent, and the direct application of
it to the devil, renders it a subject of peculiar im-
portance in a work of this kind that it should be no-
ticed.
I do not mean, however, by what I have said, to
enter into all the wonderful relations which we meet
with in sacred record concerning the serpent. It
will be sufficient to all the purposes I mean to offer
upon the subject, to observe that the Great and Al-
mighty Author of Scripture hath in many places
plainly declared that by the serpent is intended the
devil, yea, the devil is expressly called the old ser-
pent. (Rev. xii. 9.) I beg that this may be fully un-
derstood. And it were to be much wished that
the sense of it was as fully impressed upon the
mind of every reader. (See Job xxvi. 13. Isa.
xxvii. 1.)
The whole tenor of Scripture, therefore being
directed to set forth the devil under this image and
figure of the serpent, there appears a beautiful ana-
logy between the brazen serpent lifted up in the
wilderness at the command of God, and the Lord
Jesus lifted up on the cross for the salvation of his
people by the same authority— and for this plain
832
reason, because none but the serpent of all the crea-
tures in the creation of God was cursed ; and there-
fore none but the serpent among the creatures of
God could be the suitable, type or figure to repre-
sent Christ when redeeming his people from the
curse of the law, "being made a curse for them.'*
And as the simple act of faith in the Israelite in the
wilderness, when beholding the brazen serpent as
typical of Christ, became the sole means of recov-
ery when dying under the effects of the serpent's
poison in the old dispensation, so the simple act
of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the sole
cause of salvation when dying under the conse-
quences of sin and Satan under the New. In-
deed so Christ himself explained it, and so the faith-
ful in all ages have understood it ; and, no doubt,
thousands who are now in glory, while they were
upon earth, accepted this beautiful illustration of
the subject, and lived and died in the most firm
conviction of the truth of it, to the Lord's glory,
and their souls' happiness.
I have thought it worth while to be the more
particular on this point, not because there is the
least questionto be made of our Lord's own illustra-
tion of this subject, but because some doubts ha- e
arisen whether it was truly a serpent which be-
guiled Eve, or some other creature. But while the
uniform testimony of Scripture is with this subject,
and the devil is continually called by the name of
serpent through the whole of the Bible, and while
the faithful in all ages have, without a single in-
stance of departure, received no other idea, it
should seem the safest method to accept the good
old way of translation, assured that if the fact had
not been so, God the Holy Ghost would have taught
the church accordingly.
The objection arising from the serpent's being
833
endowed with speech and reason in conversing
with our first mother, and persuading her by argu-
ment, is no more in reality an objection than that of
the ass possessing both in the instance of Balaam's
history. Both were miraculous ; both induced by
the sovereign power of God for the accomplish-
ment of the Lord's purposes. And of the two ex-
amples of the kind, surely the great event of man's
apostacy became a much more important occasion
for such a miracle than the condemnation of a single
character like Balaam.
I cannot help making a farther remark, that the
Hebrew name for serpent (Nechash) is the general
name used throughout the whole Scripture. And
it is not only an ingenious but a beautiful thought
of Mr. Parkhurst in his Lexicon, page 390, that the
reason for which Moses in the wilderness, when com-
manded to make the figure of a fiery serpent, made
it of brass or copper, was, not only because it was
the nearest in resemblance to the colour of the ser-
pent, but also from the noxious qualities of poison
in it. For, saith Mr. P. " as man, no doubt, was ac-
quainted with animals long before he had any know-
ledge of minerals and their qualities, it seems
highly probable that the primeval language might
in some instances, and where there was a similarity
of qualities, describe the latter by names deduced
from those which were at first given to the former.
And in the present case it is observable that copper
isnot only of a serpentine colour, but resembles those
noxious animals in its destructive properties, being
in all its preparations accounted poisonous." All
this is strikingly just upon the presumption that the
word (Nechash) be rendered, as it hath uniformly
been rendered, serpent, by all the translators of the
Bible for centuries ; but if another beast of the
VOL. VI. 3 H
834
field be substituted the beauty in the resemblance
is lost.
It is worthy of farther remark, in confirmation,
that the church all along considered the word
(Nechash,) which is rendered in our translation ser-
pent, to have been uniformly connected with the
idea of this beast ; for we find, in the days of He-
zekiah, that in his removing the brazen serpent
which Moses had made, and calling' it not immedi-
ately (Nechash,) but Nehushtan, thus playing upon
the word, but still preserving the idea of the thing
itself, the good old king plainly proved what the
judgment of the church concerning it was in his
day. Hezekiah saw that Israel had idolized the
type, and forgotten the thing signified, therefore
in removing it, and calling it Nehushtan, he aimed
to direct the minds of the people from the type and
shadow to him it was intended to prefigure. (See
2 Kings xviii. 4. See Nehushtan.)
SERVANT. I should not have stopped at this
word, had the general sense of it been the object
I had in view to have noticed. Every one is per-
fectly at home in his apprehension of the term
servant, though at the same time it may be remark-
ed, that perhaps there are but few, even in the
common acceptation of the word servant, who are
aware how very general, in the extensive sense of
of the terra, it is, as observed in the circumstances
among men.
In relation to the character of servant, as it re-
fers to the service the whole creation owe the Lord,
we may take up the language of the Psalmist, and
say, all things continue, according to Jehovah's
ordinance : for all things serve thee. (Ps. cix. 91.)
K The deceiver and the deceived are his." (Job
xii. 26.) Wicked men, and devils, as well as the
faithful servants of Jehovah, may be said to minis-
S35
ter to the Lord's will and pleasure ; and though
not by their intentions, yet by the overruling and
sovereign power of God, do carry on his adminis-
trations in his almighty government. This doctrine,
if it were capable of being opened and explained
in all the multiform instances of it, would unfold
such a display of wisdom, and of glory, as would
call up the everlasting and increasing admiration,
love, and praise, of all the intelligent creatures of
God to all eternity.
And in relation to the word servant, in the
mutual services men owe, and are in fact exercis-
ing, of receipt towards one another ; here also,
the subject is almost boundless. No state, no con-
dition of rank in life, is altogether exempt from it.
The King and the beggar have both their respec-
tive provinces in life ; and as Solomou saith, "the
profit of the earth is for all : the King himself is
served by the field." (Eccles v. 9.)
But I should not have introduced the word servant
in my Poor Man's Concordance, had it been merely
to have noticed these things. I have another, and
as I hope, a higher object for its introduction ; I
mean in relation to the person, work, and offices of
the Lord Jesus Christ, as Jehovah's servant, and
the servant of his people, as set forth in these un-
equalled words of humility and tenderness, and
which are Jesus' own, when he said, "The sou of
man came not to be ministered unto, but to minis-
ter, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matt,
xx. 28.)
This view of the Lord Jesus, as Jehovah's Ser-
vant, in the great work of redemption, and the
servant of his people, opens to our contemplation,
one of the most endearing and most affectionate in
all the office-characters of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hence we find God the Father speaking of him as
3 h 2
836
such, when calling' him by this name. " Behold my
Servant, whom I uphold : mine Elect in whom my
soul delighteth !" Observe here the Father is speak-
ing-to the church of him, and bids the church to ac-
cept him, and receive him in this sweet character.
And immediately after he speaks to him — u I the
Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will
hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee
for a Covenant of the people." (Isaiah xlii. 1—8.)
In a following chapter, (Isaiah xlix. 1 — 6.) we
find the Lord Jesus calling to the church, in con-
sequence of this covenant and commission, to accept
and receive him in this character. u Listen O isles
unto me, and harken ye people from far ! the Lord
hath called me, from the bowels of my mother hath
he made mention of my name ; and said unto me,
Thou art my Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be
glorified."
Such then being plainly and evidently the case,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah's Servant,
it will be highly proper and important that every
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ should have a
just and right conception of the sense in which this
is meant in Scripture.
Now it is plain, that as God, and God alone,
unconnected with the manhood, the sense of Ser-
vant cannot be meant. For he is "one with the
Father over all, God blessed for ever." In this
equality of nature and of essence, he is not Jeho-
vah's Servant, for he is Jehovah's Fellow. (Zech.
xiii. 7.) But when in the council of peace, before
all worlds, in that covenant transaction which took
place for the redemption of our nature between the
glorious persons of the Godhead, the Son of God
undertook to become man, that he might be the
Surety and Sponsor of his church and people ; here
by this infinite condescension, we discover how
837
Christ, as God and man united in one person, might,
as he really and truly did, become the servant of
Jehovah.
And so far was this act of humiliation from les-
sening the infinite dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or in a single circumstance departing from his own
essential power and Godhead, that had he not been
God as well as man, he could not have been a suit-
ed person of Jehovah's Servant. And although
he did veil the glories of the Godhead, during the
time of his tabernacling in substance of our flesh
here below, yet was it utterly impossible to be a
moment void of it ; and oftentimes he caused it to
burst forth in wonderful display of sovereign glory
and power. He, and he only, as God and man in
the person, could be the competent Servant, of Jeho-
vah to obey and fulfil all righteousness ; to cancel
and take away all sins by his blood ; and as Jeho-
vah's righteous servant, to justify many, and to be
" his salvation to the ends of the earth."
I hope the reader will be able from this short
relation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the Christ of. God, God and man united, to form
full and just ideas of the sense in which it is, that
our dear Redeemer is Jehovah's Servant. In-
deed this character is so peculiarly and personally
his own, and his alone, that it is impossible any other
should be. And he is so fully and so completely
Jehovah's Servant, out of zeal to his Father's glory,
and out of pure free unpurchased love to his
church, his Spouse, that the proper knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his character, among
all his other offices and characters, is life eternal.
(See John xvii. 3.)
And now reader, if the Lord, the Holy Ghost,
whose office it is to take of the things of Jesus,
and to shew to the people, hath graciously shewn
838
Christ to you in this lovely and endearing charac-
ter ; what a sweetness must your soul find, as often
as you hear God the Father calling1 upon you in
that sweet Scripture, to behold his Servant, your
Surety, whom Jehovah upholds, and in whom his
soul delighteth ! And how blessed must you be to
behold your Lord Jesus as Jehovah's Servant and
your Surety, entering, as the Scriptures have set
him forth, the service of his Father, magnifying his
holy law, and fulfilling all righteousness ; yea,
more than repairing all the breaches our sins had
made, and purchasing for his redeemed a greater
abundance of glory and happiness by his righte-
ousness and blood shedding, than a whole eternity
will be able to recompence ! Oh, what endless
glories, even now by faith, break in upon the soul,
while contemplating the Father's grace, and Jesus'
love, in this great salvation ! * Haste, haste my
beloved, and until the day break, and the shadows
flee away, be thou like a roe or a young hart upon
the mountains of Bether." (Song ii. 17.)
SETH. Son of Adam, and father of Enos. (Gen. v.3.)
His name is taken from Sheith, to put.
SEVENTY. We read of our Lord's appointing
seventy persons of a rank inferior, it should seem,
to the apostles, and sending them out by two and
two, before his face, with authority to teach and to
preach in the cities. (Luke x. 1, &c.) Some have
thought that this was in honour of the seventy
called the Septuagint, who were the first that tran-
slated the original Hebrew into Greek, in the time
of Eleazin the High Priest, about 240 years
before the manifestation of Christ in the flesh.
But this is wholly conjectural. It is true that the
church of God, by the Lord's appointment, is highly
indebted to their ministry on this occasion. It is
said to have been undertaken at the request of
839
Ptolomeus Philodelphus, then King, of Egypt.
How truly blessed is it to minister in the Lord's
service, in any and in every employment ; yea, how
truly honourable! A great and powerful King de-
clared that he would rather be a door-keeper in the
house of God, than to dwell in the richest tents of
wickedness. (Ps. lxxxiv. 10.) And to be a hewer
of wood and a drawer of water, for the Lord's
sanctuary, when appointed thereto by the great
Master of the household, is more honourable than
the seats of the earth.
SHAALABLIN. A city of Dan. (Joshua xix. 42.)
The name seems to be taken from Shual, fox —
and Bun, understanding. Perhaps hidden like
foxes.
SHAARAIM. A city of Simdon. (1 Chron. iv. 31.)
Probably the same as formerly belonged to Judah.
(Joshua xv. 36.) From Shahar Shaddai. This is
the Hebrew name for Almighty. Sometimes it is
joined with El ; as Gen. xvii. 1, and then rendered
God Almighty. But ft equently it is alone, as Num.
xxiv. 4, 16. Job. vi. 4. Indeed if I mistake not,
it is used in the book of Job not less than thirty
times. Some derive this word from Shadad, which
signifies to destroy : but others render it very dif-
ferently, to make all sufficient: El Shaddai, of
many paps, or breasts to suck at. But perhaps
Shaddai means both ; for he that is all sufficient to
open thousands of paps to his people, can open as
many vials of wrath to pour on his enemies. If the
reader would keep both the senses in view, as oft
as he meets with El Shaddai, God Almightv, he
will find constant paps of consolation to suck for
his own comfort, and the comfort of the church in
all ages ; and as constant consolation for support
in the sure destruction of all his, and the church's
enemies.
840
SHADOW. I should not have paused at this word
by way of explaining the word itself, had that been
all. Every one knows what it means, and the
Scriptures frequently use it. We meet with life,
represented under the figure of a shadow ; and we
read of the shadow of death, and the like. But I
rather fear that when the word shadow is used in
reference to the things of the law, when it is said,
" the law was a shadow of good things to come, but
the body is of Christ," (Coloss. ii. 17.) the full
sense is not so generally understood as it were to be
wished. I beg therefore to offer a short observa-
tion upon the subject.
Now it is and must be, very plain to common
sense, that before there can be formed a shadow,
there must be a body that is somewhat of substance
to form that shadow. Let that shadow be what it
may, suppose the shadow of a man, or of a tree, or
of a house, plain it is, that the man, tree, or house,
must have been before the shadow ; it could not be
formed before the substance which gave birth to
the shadow was formed ; that would be impossible.
A shadow, strictly and properly speaking, is form-
ed from some substance, no matter what, standing
between the shadow formed and light of any kind
forming that shadow, by shining upon the substance.
If I stand between the light of the sun, or the light
of the moon, or anv lesser light than either, and
the earth which is behind me, my shadow will
be formed upon the earth in consequence of that
shining. If there be no substance between, or if
there be no light shining upon that substance,
there will be no shadow. All this is so abundantly
plain that it can need no farther proof.
To apply this then to the shadow of the law, the
law is said to be a shadow, but the body or sub-
stance is Christ. And consequently Christ the
S H 841
substance was before that shadow, yea, formed that
shadow, when as the "lamb slain before the foun-
dation of the world," Christ stood up at the call
of Jehovah from everlasting. (Rev. xiii. 8.) But
how stood up? Surely not openly revealed to men,
but openly to and before Jehovah, when in the
council of peace he was the Man, the Branch ; and
that in the ancient settlements of redemption
before all worlds. (Zech. vi. 11, 12.) Hence,'
Moses was admonished of God "when he was
about to make the tabernacle : for see, saith he,
that thou make all things according to the pattern
shewed to thee in the Mount." (Heb. viii. 5. Exod.
xxv. 40.) So then, the pattern or substance in the
Mount preceded all the shadows that followed in
the tabernacle service. And if Christ be indeed,
as the Holy Ghost by Paul saith he is, the body,
while all the services of the tabernacle were but
shadows, (Coloss. ii. 17.) is it not plain that, how-
ever, not openly to the church, yet openly to God,
the substance of the pattern must somehow have
been before the shadow ? Never could these sha-
dows have had even the shadow of a being, had not
the substance been before, and formed them. If we
could go farther, and demand how these things
could be, the only answer proper to be given is
read to us by the prophet : " If it be marvellous in
the eyes of the remnant of this people in these
days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes,
saith the Lord of hosts ?" (Zech. viii. 6.)
I will only detain the reader with a short obser-
vation upon the whole, namely, to say that it must
be very blessed and very precious to the soul of
the believer to discover in this instance, as in every
other, that Jesus, as Christ, God, man, and medi-
ator, was as the apostle saith he was, and is,
" before all things, and by him all things consist."
842
It was essentially necessary that he should be so,
and the Holy Ghost bears witness by his servant
Paul to it, that " in all things he might have the pre-
eminence." (Coloss. i. 15. &c.) Hail ! thou glori-
ous Alpha, and Omega, of thy church's glory !
Thou art indeed the substantially all of thy people's
persons, safety, security, happiness, as well in
grace as glory. All but thee are but as shadows,
for thou alone art the body, and as thou hast said,
8 I will cause them that love me to inherit subs-
tance, and I will fill their treasures." (Prov.
viii. 21.)
SHADRACH. This was the Chaldean name
given to Hannaniah. (Dan. i. 7.) Perhaps from
Shadah, field — and Racach, tender. — See Abed-
nigo.
SHALISHA. See Baal Shalisha.
SHALLUM. This is a very common name in the
Old Testament, and frequently given by the He-
brews to their children : and is not to be wondered
at, for it is derived from Shalem, peace.
SHALMANEZER. King of Assyria, whose name
would most probably never have reached the pre-
sent day, but from his connection with Scripture
history. (See 2 Kings xvii.) If the name be com-
pounded of Shalem, peace — and Azar, to fasten ;
the meaning of it is easily put together.
SHAME. Every one knows what shame means. It
implies somewhat that is disgraceful, somewhat
connected with sin. Hence, where sin is not, there
is not properly speaking, shame. So that our first
parents in the garden, before sin entered into the
world, knew nothing of shame. For it is expressly
said, 8 And they were both naked, the man and his
wife, and were not ashamed." (Gen. ii. 25.)
But after the fall, instantly a conscious sense of sin
made them attempt to hide themselves from the pre-
843
sence of the Lord, amidst the trees of the garden.
(Gen. iii. 7, 8.) What a sweet thought is it, that
as a sense of sininduceth shame, so a consciousness
that sin is done away in Christ takes away that
shame, and induceth holy boldness. Hence John
saith, when speaking of Christ, " And now, little
children, abide in him, that when he shall appear
we may have confidence, and not be ashamed
before him at his coming." (1 John ii. 28.)
SHAMGAR. Son of Anath : he was one of the
Judges in Israel. (Judges iii. 31.) His name seems
to be derived from Shem, name — and Ger, stranger.
SHAMMAH. See Jehovah Shammah.
SHARON. There were several places called by
this name in Palestine. Indeed there might be
more elsewhere, for the name itself signifies a plain,
or a place of fruitfulness. Hence the prophet cele-
brates it so much. (Tsa. xxxv. 2. lxv. 10.)
SHEAF. The sheaf of the first fruits to be offered
unto the Lord had much of Christ in it. (Lev.
xxiii. 10 — 12.) Christ is the first in every thing.
But as the first fruits of the harvest, Christ was
eminently so here, for by his resurrection from the
dead, we are told that he thereby became the first
fruits of them that slept. (1 Cor. xv. 20.) The sheaf
was to be waved before the Lord, not only to ac-
knowledge him as the Lord, proprietor of all the
earth, but also to have an eye to the Lord in
Christ, as sanctifying and blessing all our enjoy-
ments. Hence, the Priest was to receive the first
fruits of the sheaf, and to wave it before the Lord :
and then and not before, the people had liberty to
use it. Sweetly teaching us that Christ is first to
be eyed in the blessing and then he will be enjoyed
in the blessing ; so that both law and gospel hold
forth the same blessed teaching : " Honour the Lord
with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all
844
S H
thine increase ; so shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new
wine." (Prov. iii. 9, 10.)
SHEALTIEL. The father of Zerrubabel. (Ezra iii. 2.)
The name is derived from Sheal, to ask — andEl, God.
SHEBA. The memorable queen of Sheba renders
this name familiar to the lover of the Bible. See
her history, (1 Kings x. 1, &c.) Our Lord's honour-
able mention of her we have, Matt. xii. 42. Sheba
signifies captivity, from Shaba.
SHEBNA. The scribe. He was in the court of
Hezekiah. (2 Kings xviii. 18.)
SHECHINEH. See Signs.
SHEEP. See Lambs.
SHEKEL. A weight used among the Israelites ; sup-
posed in silver to be worth somewhat about two
shillings and three-pence farthing current coin of
our English money. If of gold it was about eighteen
shillings. The name seems to be derived from
Shakel, to weigh.
SHELAH. Son of Judah. (Gen. xxxviii. 11.) The
name means to break.
SHELEMIAH. There were several of this name
(Ezra x. 41. Neh. xiii. 13.) The Lord is my peace,
is the meaningofthis name, from Jah, the Lord — and
Shalem, peace.
SHELOMITH. This woman's name is rendered me-
morable in Scripture, from having a son who blas-
phemed the Lord. See the history, (Lev. xxiv. 10.)
to the end. Her name seems to have been derived
from Shalem, peace — but her unhappy commerce
with an Egyptian brought forth in this son both
disorder and unhappiness. Alas ! what can such
events produce but evil ? " Lust (saith the Holy
Ghost by the apostle)when it hath conceived bring-
eth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death." (Jam. i. 15.) It is somewhat remarkable
S H
845
that this name of Shelemoth, though it is evidently
of a feminine termination, was used for several of the
sons of the Hebrews. (1 Chron. xxiii. 9. 18. xxvi.
26.)
SHEM. Son of Noah. (Gen. vi. 10.) The genea-
logy of Shem on account of the promised seed, is
more particularly recorded than the other, sons of
Noah in the Bible. The name of Shem means
eminency or renown.
SHEMAIAH. A prophet of the Lord. His history
we have, 2 Chron xi. His name means, that hears
the Lord, from Thamah that hears — and Jah, the
Lord. There are many of this name in the Old
Testament. (1 Chron. iv. 37. Ezra viii. 16. Neh. vi.
10. Jer. xxix. 24, 25. xxxvi. 12.)
SHEMARIAH. (See 1 Chron. xii. 5. Ezra x. 32.)
From Shimar, a guard — and Jah, the Lord. The
Lord is my guard.
SHEMER. From this man's name Samaria derived
its name. (See 1 Kings xvi. 24.) The name itself
should seem to be taken from Shamar, thorn ,- but
is reported to have been a very lovely mountain.
SHEMIN1TH. We find this word before two of the
Psalms, the sixth and twelfth ! and it is used 1.
Chron. xv. 21. And in the margin of our old Bibles,
in this chapter of the Chronicles where it is said on
the Sheminith to excel, it is rendered on the eighth to
oversee. Hence some have supposed that it meaneth
an instrument of eight strings. But this is by no
means satisfactory ; it is too trifling to suppose that
the blessed and precious truths of the Psalms were
composed for the purpose of mere musical instru-
ments. Those Psalms beyond all doubt have an
eye to Christ, and express sweet leading features
of his office-character as Messiah. If therefore we
suppose (and which I venture to think may be done
without violence) that the blessed things contained
846
in them refer to Christ, may we not suppose also
that the Psalm itself is therefore dedicated to him ?
If the reader wishes to see yet farther the founda-
tion of such probable conclusions, I refer him to
Parkhurst's Lexicon, page 696, or Fenwick on Ti-
tles of the Psalms, page 18. See Musician.
SHEN. A place near Mizpah. The name means a
rock or stone. See Ebenezer.
SHEPHATI AH. There were several of this name
in Scripture. (2 Sam. iii. 4. 1 Chron. iv. 8. vii. 5.
2 Chron. xxi. 2. Jer. xxxviii. 1.) The name is a
compound of Shaphat, judgment — and Jah, Lord.
SHEPHERD. I should not have paused at this
word, being in itself so very well understood, but
only to remark the very great blessedness and ten-
derness of it as assumed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He saith himself, K I am the good Shepherd ; the
good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John
x. 11.) And God the Father also sweetly holds
forth the Lord Jesus, in his mediatorial character,
under this endearing point of view, as the Shep-
herd of his church and people.
It would form the subject of a volume, rather
than an article in a Concordance, to enter upon the
character and office of a Shepherd as peculiarly
suited and carried on by Christ ; I cannot therefore
propose such an undertaking. But while 1 refer
the reader to the Scriptural account of our Lord
Jesus under this character, and which is more or
less scattered over the whole Bible, I cannot con-
tent myself without just observing how very blessed
it must be for all the sheep of Christ and the lambs
of his fold to know Jesus, and to make use of Jesus
as God the Father evidently intended he should be
used, as their Shepherd
As Jesus is the Shepherd, so they are the flock;
the one character implies the other ; and the church
S H
847
made up of sheep and lambs are his property. He
received them as the gift of his Father, and he hath
purchased them with his blood ; so that every tye
of nature, interest, property, and grace, endears
them to Christ. And hence he saith himself, * I
give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of
my hand. My Father which gave them me is
greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one."
(John x. 28—30.)
I must not enlarge on this point, how sweet so-
ever and interesting it is ; but I do beg the reader
who is conscious of being one of Christ's fold, and
especially the lambs of that fold, never to lose
sight of Jesus under this pastoral office. Jesus
knows all his sheep, he calleth them all by name,
his eye is always upon them, and his heart full of
love towards them ; he knows how helpless, poor,
and prone to wandering they are ; and he hath a
suited grace for every one and for all. He saith
himself that he will, search and seek them out in
every place whither they are scattered in the
cloudy and dark day. His love, and not their de-
serts, is the cause of his care over them. He will
feed them, protect them, help them, heal them, re-
fresh them, restore them, and carry them through
the whole of this wilderness state, until he brings
them all home to his fold in heaven. And all this,
and ten thousand things more, because he is
their Shepherd, because he is, and ever must be,
Jesus. " Hail, O thou almighty Shepherd of Israel,
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that
dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth!" (Ps.
lxxx. 1, &c. See Pastor.)
SHEPHERDS. I notice the character of shepherds
in order to offer a short observation on what is said
848
concerning- the abomination the Egyptians had to
shepherds, which may not perhaps so immediately
strike the reader. Jt appears by the history of Jo-
seph that the patriarch used this policy when bring-
ing his father and his brethren before Pharaoh, in
order that they might be separated from the Egyp-
tians, and have the land of Goshen assigned them.
(See Gen. xlvi. 31. to the end, and following chap-
ter.)
It hath been supposed by some that this abomi-
nation of the Egyptians to shepherds arose from
their employment, because while the Egyptians
worshipped animals the shepherds killed them occa-
sionally for food. There might perhaps be somewhat
in this for which the hatred arose ; but then had this
been the sole motive in the mind of Joseph, his
plan of separation must have had respect still far-
ther— the hatred would not have subsided by the
mere separation, in putting his family in Goshen.
I rather think, (though I speak not in the most
distant way decidedly upon the subject) that the
mind of the patriarch Joseph had an eye to Christ
and aimed, upon this and every other occasion, to
keep up the gracious distinction of character of the
seed of Abraham, whose first and most decisive
feature all along was of "the people that dwell
alone, and that were not to be reckoned among
the nations." The character of shepherds, simply
as shepherds, would not have been so odious to
the Egyptians, for we read of the flock and cattle
of Egypt, as well as those of Israel, and therefore
they must have had shepherds also. But circum-
cised shepherds, and sacrificing shepherds, to the
God of Abraham, when the cause of covenant-grace
and mercy was discovered, would have done then
as it hath ever since done in the church of Jesus,
S II
843
stirred up the natural hatred of the heart against
the chosen seed.
Reader, the offence of the cross is not yet ceased,
and blessed is it for Christ's people it never will.
The Egyptians of the present hour have their abo-
mination still. It is the felicity of the Lord's peo-
ple to dwell in Goshen— that is, to be separated
from men of the world. They dwell alone in the
purpose, council, will, and love of God the Father>
the grace and favour of Christ, and the anointings
quickenings, and fellowship of God the Holy Ghost.
SHESHBAZZAR. A prince of Judah . 'Ezra, i. 8.)
The name seems to be compounded of Shush,
joy — Beth, the preposition in— and Tzarar, tribula-
tion ; perhaps alluding to the faithful in Babylon still
rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of tribulation.
S HET H AR-BOZN AI. One of the king of Persia's
princes who accused the Jews. (Ezra v. 6.) It is a
Persian name, and hath been supposed to mean one
that despise th.
SHEW BREAD. The shew bread was placed on
the golden table of the sanctuary every Sabbath.
They were twelve loaves in number, meaning one
for every tribe, to be presented before the Lord.
(See Lev. xxiv. 5 — 7. with Exod. xxv. 30.) Those
twelve loaves were carried in by the priests hot
before the Lord, and the twelve which had been
there from the Sabbath before were then taken
away. Generally there was upon those occasions
an offering of frankincense and salt. The Hebrews
called them Lechem Panahim, the bread of faces :
probably from being thus presented before the face
of the Lord.
Surely the believer may discern strong pointings
to Christ in this service. And the call of the
church as strongly referred to him, when the united
prayer of the congregation went up, " Behold, O
vol. vi. 3 l
850
S H
God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine
anointed. (Ps. lxxxiv. 9.)
SHIBBOLETH. We meet with this word Judges
xii. 6 ; and the history connected with it concerning
the men of Ephraim is not a little singular. Where-
fore they could not pronounce it, is not easily ex-
plained. They used the Samech instead of the
Shin. It is blessed for us that our gospel privileges
are given to us upon very different terms — when
we cannot speak of them, yet looking to Christ we
are blessed in them.
SHIELD. The Lord is frequently pleased to call
himself the shield of his people. (Gen. xv. 1. Ps. v.
12. Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) And most blessedly, with an
eye to Christ, do the sacred writers speak in this
language. (Ps. xviii. 1, 2.) And where Christ is
indeed the shield, what weapon formed against his
people can prosper? (Isa. liv. 16, 17.)
SHIGGAION. We meet with this word (Habakkuk
iii. 1.) and in the title of the seventh Psalm. Some
read it Shigionoth, which makes it plural ; the word
is the same. Some suppose it means a Song of
David. But as both prophets, David and Habak-
kuk, are celebrating things of higher moment than
what relates to themselves, I cannot but be led to
believe the word itself hath a reference, and the
Scriptures connected with this title, to the Lord
Jesus Christ. See Musician.
SHILOH. One of the names of the Messiah, given
by the dying patriarch Jacob under the spirit of
prophecy, and to which both Jew and Gentile agree ;
though in the application of the name to the person
of Christ they differ. (Gen. xlix. 10.) It is worthy re-
mark, however, that unless it be applied to the
Lord Jesus Christ, it can be applied to no other.
The dying patriarch said that the sceptre should
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
851
his feet, until the Shiloh come. Now the lawgiver
is departed, and the sceptre also ; for they have no
law, nor king, nor governor. Bat both they boasted
of unto the comingof Christ. We have a law, said
they to Pilate, when they demanded the death of
Christ. (John xix. 7.) But now Christ was come,
however unconscious of it, they said, " We have no
king but Caesar." (John xix. 15.)
I cannot dismiss this article without first observ-
ing that Shiloh is rendered the more remarkable,
because as the name of the Messiah, nor indeed as
any other name of a person, we no where meet with
it but in this place. (Gen. xlix. 10.) And 1 beg yet
farther to observe that it merits our attention the
more, because it is the third blessed promise Je-
hovah gave, in his holy word, in the covenant of
grace concerning redemption. The first was all
gospel, and all of Christ : (Gen. iii. 15.) " The seed
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." The
second was all gospel, and all of Christ : and this
was given to Abraham, (Gen.xxii. 18.) " In thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And
God the Holy Ghost, by his servant Paul, directly
applies this to Christ, Gal. iii. 16. And the third
was this blessed promise of Shiloh, which compre-
hends in its bosom the former two, and confirms and
explains them. They both promised Christ. This
saith when and how to be known. Do you enquire
then, Is Shiloh come ? I answer ; Is the sceptre
departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from be-
tween his feet ? Then is Shiloh come. Precious
Lord Jesus, I would say, Art thou come indeed,
to my heart, to my house, to my family ? Lord,
when shall the full gathering of thy people be ?
Haste, haste, my Beloved, and arise out of Zion,
u to turn away ungodliness from Jacob ; Be thou
3 12
852 S H
as a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of
spices !" (See Sceptre.)
SHILOH. A city of Ephraim, (Josh, xviii. 10.) This
place was rendered memorable in the history of
Israel, (Josh. xix. 51. 1 Sam. iv. 4. 1 Kings xiv. 2.
Jer. vii. 12, &c.)
SMI MEL There were several of this name in the
Old Testament. (2 Sam. xvi. 5, &c. 1 Kings i. 8.
1 Chron. iv. 27, &c.) The name seems to be derived
from Shamaali, fame — and the post-fix pronoun
makes it, my fame.
SHINAR. Rendered remarkable for the tower of
Babel being built there. (Gen. xi, 2,&c.) The word
Chaldean.
SHIP. It was among the prophecies of the dying
patriarch Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 13.) that Zebulun should
dwell in " the haven of the sea, and be an haven for
ships." And how distant soever this allusion may
appear to some concerning the days of Christ, and
the eventual dispersion of the gospel to the Gentile
islands of the sea, yet from subsequent prophecies
to the same amount, when illustrated by each
other, I confess that I am inclined to believe that
some great maritime power, such as our own, may
be fairly referred to in the several prophecies to
this amount. I beg the reader before he goes far-
ther to cousult Num. xxiv. 24. Isa. ix. 1 — 7. Matt,
iv. 13 — 16. Ezek. chap, xxvii. and xxviii. and Dan.
xi. 30. No doubt, The Tyrus spoken of is mystical
as well as other places mentioned in those pro-
phecies. The limits to be observed in this Poor
Man's Concordance will not allow me to enlarge.
I cannot however dismiss the subject without first
observing that, however partial we may be to our
own country as to fancy the great maritime power
alluded to means our British Zion, the present a^ra
is highly unfavourable to the character of faithful
S H
853
worshippers. Whoever takes a fair and impartial
statement between the purity of our faith and prac-
tice, and the period after the Reformation, will be
struck with astonishment in the sad change. I was
much pleased with the perusal of a paper which lately
fell into my hands, entitled the Bill of Lading for
a Ship. From the beautiful simplicity of style, as
well as the evident marks of grace in which it is
written, I take for granted that it was first in use
in that glorious period, when the pure doctrines of
the gospel were as much known and valued as they
are now forgotten or despised. I mean from about
the year 1560. I shall venture to believe the rea-
der, if he hath never seen a Bill of Lading for a
Ship, will thank me for inserting it under this article.
Tt is in my esteem a precious fragment of the devo-
tion of our Navy, as well as our fathers at that
time in this kingdom engaged in commerce.
" Shipped by the grace of God, in good order, and
well conditioned, in and upon the good Ship called
the whereof is master, under God, for this
present voyage, A. B. and now riding at anchor in
the river Thames, and by God's grace bound for
such and such goods. And which said
goods are to be delivered in the like good order,
at the said port (the act of God, the king's enemies,
fire, and all and every other dangers and accidents
of the seas, rivers, and navigation, of whatever
natureand kindsoever, excepted.) And so Godsend
the good ship to her desired port in safety. Amen."
SHITTIM. The sacred wood which was much
used in the tabernacle, of which moderns know but
little.
SHOSHANNIM. This is used as a title to several
of the psalms. Some have supposed that the word
hath a reference to some musical instruments. But
whoever reads the forty-fifth psalm, where it is
854 S H
used, and with the additional title, A song of loves,
will, I conceive, be inclined to think with me that
somewhat higher is intended by it. If the whole
psalm be of Christ, is it not likely that the title
should be ? See Musician.
SHUAH. This name was common in Israel to both
sons and daughters. We meet with a Shuah, the
brother of Chehib, or Caleb, 1 Chron. iv. 11. —
and Shuah, sister to Japhlet, 1 Chron. vii. 32.
The name is from a similar word, to cry. It is pro-
bably that the Siiuhites were from this stock. Abra-
ham's son Shuah, or Shuachj might be the founder
of the Shuhites, or Shuchites. (Gen. xxv. 2. Job
ii. 11.)
SHULAM1TE. This name is given to the church in
the Songs of Solomon. (Song vi. 13 ) It hath been
variously accounted for. Some have supposed that
it is in consequence of her marriage with Solomon,
and bearing therefore his name ; for Shulamite is
the feminine, as Solomon is the masculine, both
being derived from Shaiem peace. And if so
there is a great beauty in it as it relates to Christ
and his church ; for if Jesus be the Shaiem, the
peace of his people, his spouse hath peace in him
and his blood and righteousness. We have a beau-
tiful instance of the same kind, and from the autho-
rity of the Holy Ghost, Jer. xxiii. 6. with xxxiii.
1G ; where, in the fust of these chapters, Jesus is
called by Jehovah's appointment the Lord our
righteousness, and in the second the church, by the
same authority, as one bearing the name of her
husband, is called the same.
But beside these considerations there is a great
propriety in calling the church Shulamite, for
Shulem or Salem is the same as Jerusalem ; and
this is the mother of the church. (Gal. iv. 26.)
Hence Melchizedec is said to have been king of
S li
Salem, king- of peace. (Heb. vii. 2 ) What a sweet
thought ! Our Jesus, our Mclehizedec, is king- of
Salem, and all his people are in this sense " Siiu-
lamites;" for they are "fellow-citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God." (Ephes. ii.
19, &c.)
And it is very blessed yet farther to trace the
propriety of the name in reference to the church's
connection and interest with her Lord ; for she is
a Shulamite indeed in the peace and perfection of
beauty put upon her, by the cornliness and perfec-
tion of Jesus. Hence when the daughters of Jerusa-
lem, smitten with a view of her loveliness in Christ,
call upon her, it is to return, that they may look
upon her beauty. u Return, return, O Shulamite !
return, return, that we may look upon thee." So
struck were they with her righteousness in Jesus.
(Song vi. 4.)
SHUN EM— Or Shunamite, is the same with the
former, only by a corrupt reading Shunem for
Shalem. One of David's wives, and the generous
woman to the prophet Elisha, were each called by
this name. (1 Kings i. 2, &c. 2 Kings iv. 12, &c.)
SHUR. A wilderness so called. Here it was that,
Hagar fouii&a sweet Bethel: see Gen. xvi. through-
out, well worth regarding. And how many of God's
dear children have found the same wilderness dis-
pensations laying a foundation for rich enjoyments !
I verily believe that the family of Jesns would have
lost some of their most precious seasons, had they
lost some of their wilderness exercises. It was not
without an eye to this that the Lord said, "There-
fore, behold, 1 will allure her, and bring her into
the wilderness, and speak comfortably to ner." (Hos.
ii. 14.) Indeed, the very word Shur, a wall, car-
ries with it this idea. Reader, do not forget it if
at any time Jesus brings you into Shur. He who
8& S I
brings you there will not leave you there, but will
manifest himself to you there. Oh, how precious
the faith that enables a soul to say, under all wil-
derness straits and difficulties, Thou God seest me !
Oh, for all the family -of Jesus to call such wilder-
nesses Beer-lahai-roi — namely, the well of him that
liveth and seeth me ! "
SHUSHAN. The captial cit or palace of Persia.
(Dan. viii. 2.) It is a word also used for Shushan,
or Susanna, a lilly. Jesus calls his church by this
name, Song- ii. 2. Indeed he calls himself so.
And what is the sense of both, bearing the same
name, but a confirmation of all the precious truths
contained in the charter and covenant of grace !
They are the same in name, in likeness, in pursuits,
desires, affections ; but then let it never be forgot-
tenitis wholly onChrist'saccount. What Jesus is, he
is in himself, underived. What she is, she is from
him. u Christ is the rose of Sharon, and the lily of
the valley." His church is the lily among thorns,
because Jesus hath made her so. Thou art comely,
he saith, " from the comeliness which I have put
upon thee." (Ezek. xvi. 14.)
SICHAR or SYCHAR. A city of Samaria. It is
supposed that this is the same with Sechem, and
only changed, as it is said, by the Jews, out of re-
proach to the Samaritans, whom they did not love
nor deal with. Sichar means drunkenness. (John
iv. 5.)
SIDON or ZIUON. A fishing town made memora-
ble from our Lord's occasional visits there. Some
derive it from the word Tzada, to fish. It was an
antient place. (See Josh. xi. 8. Matt. xv. 21.)
SIGHT. The recovery of sight to the blind was
predicted to be among the events which should
mark the person and acts of the Messiah. (See
Isa. Ixi. 1, Sec. compared with Lukeiv. 16 — 21.)
S I 857
But the greatness of the miracle hath not perhaps
been considered but by few, equal to its importance,
both in its relation to bodily and spiritual blind-
ness. T am free to confess that I did not discover
the whole loveliness of it until reading somewhat
of the manners and customs among eastern na-
tions.
In many cases of the blind there is not only a
loss of vision but a loss of the eyeballs. And in
eastern countries, where for capital punishment the
eyes are literally scooped from their sockets, it is
not simply a restoration to give sight to such mis-
erable eyeless creatures, but it is a new creation.
We meet with numberless instances, in the Old
Testament Scripture, where such cruel punishments
were inflicted. The case of Samson, Judg. xvi. 21 ;
the case of Zedekiah, Jer. lii. 11, In the margin
of the Bible in the former instance it is, the Philis-
tines bored out his eyes. Now in all such cases
there is not only the loss of sight, but the loss of
eyes. I beg the reader to connect this idea all
along with what is said concerning this feature of
character in the Lord Jesus Christ giving sight to
the blind, for, it is literally giving eyes also, and
consequently a new creation.
Now look at the prediction in this point of view
concerning Christ, and it must instantly strike the
mind with the fullest conviction that such acts to
the bodies of men demonstrated his Godhead ; for
he not only gave vision, but he created eyes. And
in respect to the souls of his people, which those
miracles to the bodies were intended to set forth,
surely here was exhibited the new creation in the
most striking manner. Unawakened sinners are
represented as " dead in trespasses and sins ;"
Jesus came to give them life. Jesus came to bind
up the broken in heart ; and a broken heart is a
S58
dead heart. Jesus came to give sight to the blind
whose eye-sockets had no eyes, being put out for
the capital punishment of high treason, even sin
against God. And hence the charter of grace runs
in those soul-reviving words : " A new heart will I
give you, and a right spirit will I put within you ;
ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."
(Ezek. xxxvi. 26, &c.)
SIGN. I should not have paused at this word had it
not been with a view to have noticed the five signs
of the Jews, which they regarded as so highly im-
portant in the first temple, and which they confess-
ed the second temple was destitute of.
First, The Urim and Thummim, by which the
High Priest was miraculously instructed in the will
of God.
Second, The ark of the covenant from whence
the Jews observed Jehovah gave answers by reve-
lation.
Third, The fire upon the altar, which was always
burning.
Fourth, The Shechinah, or manifestation of
glory, to intimate the divine presence.
Fifth, The spirit of prophesy.
Now as these five symbols or signs of the Lord's
favour to his church and people were in the first
temple, but not in the second, what a blessed pro-
phecy and promise was that of the Lord by Hag-
gai, that the glory of the latter house should be
greater than the former ! (Hag. ii. 9.) A circum-
stance only to be explained by the actual presence
of the Lord himself in the temple, which those five
signs typified and represented. And what a blessed
accomplishment of both prophecy and promise
was it, when the Lord Jesus himself came suddenly
to his temple in substance of our flesh ! (Mai. iii. 2.)
In him all the signs and symbols, shadows, types,
S ! • m
and figures, had their whole meaning realized. Oh,
the felicity to behold in him "all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily !" (Col. ii. 9.)
SIHON. King of the Amorites : his history we have,
Num. xxi, 21, &c. If the word be, as is supposed,
its own root, it means rooting out.
SILENCE. There is a great and extensive meaning
in this word as used by the Hebrews. It doth not
simply mean where nothing is spoken, but a cer-
tain complacency aud delight. Thus the Lord
himself is said by the prophet to rest in his love, or
as the margin of the Bible renders it, he will be
silent in his love. (Zeph. iii. 17.) In relation to the
ordinary silence of the Hebrews, I refer to the word
Salutation.
SILOAM. This was a pool under the walls of Jeru-
salem, between the city and the brook Cedron. The
prophet Isaiah speaks of it as the waters ofShiloah.
(Isa. viii. 6.) The name is derived from Shiloah,
meaning sent. (See John ix. throughout.)
SIMEON- Son of Jacob, by Leah. (Gen. xxix. 33.)
It is derived from Shamah, to hear. We meet with
this name often in Scripture. Indeed it is a common
name, Simeon, or Simon.
SIN. The Hebrews had in use several words by way
of expressing the nature of sin in the diversities of
it. But the truth is, that sin doth not consist in this,
or in that act of it, for the acts of sin are but the
branches ; the root is within : so that strictly and
properly speaking, in the fallen and corrupt nature
of man, sin itself is alike in every son and daughter
of Adam. And that it doth not break out alike in all
is not from any difference in the nature of man, but
in the power of the divine restraints. If this doc-
trine, which is wholly Scriptural, were but tho-
roughly and fully understood by all men, what hum-
bling views would it induce in all, and how endear-
860
edto all would be the person, blood, and righteous-
ness of the Lord Jesus Christ ! I beg to leave this
on the reader's mind.
SINAI. See Mount Sinai.
SION — Or Shion, or Zion. See Mount Zion.
SISERA. The captain of Jabin's army. (.Judges
iv — v.) Some derive his name from Susraah, to
see an horse.
SODOM. A city ever-memorable in Scripture, and
now most probably the very spot of the Dead Sea.
The name is properly Sodomab, and signifies their
secret, from Sodom, and Ah. For the history of
this city, and its overthrow, see Gen. xiii. — xix.
SOLOMON. Son of David, king of Israel : his name
is derived from Shalem, peaceable. His history
we have at large in t he first book of the Kings. But
the greatest improvement we can make of the view
of Solomon, is to consider him in those features of
his character which were typical of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I shall beg to detain the reader for a few
moments on this account respecting Solomon, as it
is striking.
As Solomon was the son of David after the flesh,
so Christ in his human nature is expressly marked
for the comfort of the faithful, as of the same stock.
" Remember (said Paul to Timothy) that Jesus
Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the
dead according to my gospel." (2 Tim. ii. 8.) Hence
when Christ demanded of the Jews concerning
Christ, " whose son he was, they answered, the son
of David." (Matt. xxii. 42.) And it is remarkable
that the Lord should have sent by the hand of
Nathan, at the birth of Solomon, and called him
Jedidiah, that is, beloved of the Lord. (2 Sam. xii.
24, 25.) And we need not be told how the Lord, by
a voice from heaven, proclaimed Christ to be his
" beloved Son in whom he was well pleased." Add
S I 80,1
to these, Solomon king of Israel typified Christ as
a king and as a preacher in Jerusalem; and also in
his wisdom, in the riches, magnitude, peaceable-
ness, and glory of his kingdom, and in the building
of the temple, which was a beautiful type of the
Lord Jesus ; who is not only the builder of the
temple, which is his church, but the foundation of
it, the substance, and the glory of it ; for he and
he alone, as the Lord said by the prophet, was the
only one fit to build the temple of the Lord, and he
alone "could only bear the glory." (Zech. vi. 13.)
But when we have looked at Solomon, king of
Israel, as in those and the like instances, as becom-
ing a lively type of the ever-blessed Jesus, and see
in our Lord Jesus Christ a greater than Solomon
in every one, 1 would request the reader to detach
from the person and character of David's son all
that belongs not to him in those Scriptures, and
particularly in the book of the Psalms, which are
as if directed to him and spoken of him, but cer-
tainly with him have nothing to do. I mean such as
the twentieth and twenty-first psalms, and the
seventy-second psalm. I know that some com-
mentators have supposed that what is there said is
said first of Solomon, king of Israel, and secondly
in an higher sense of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
oh, what a degradation of the subject is it thus to
suppose ! Oh, what indignity is thereby offered to
the Lord Jesus Christ ! I have said so much on this
point in my Poor Man's Commentary on the Book
of the Psalms, that I think it unnecessary in this
place to enlarge ; but I could not suffer the subject
even in this little work, while speaking of Solomon,
to pass by without remarking the great perversion
of the Scripture to suppose that there is in those
things the least reference to Solomon, king of
Israel.
m s p
S PARROW. The Holy Ghost hath taken such no-
tice of this little bird, and thereby rendered the
term so familiar to our ears, by his frequent mention
of it in Scripture, that I could not altogether find
in my heart to pass it by unnoticed. Moreover,
it is one of the clean birds : (see Lev. xi.) not that
1 suppose that the sparrow, so called in Scripture, is
of the same genus or tribe as our English sparrows
of the barn ; though this much despised bird is in
my esteem a very sweet, interesting, and domestic
bird ; but certainly the sparrow, or the Tzippher,
as the Hebrews called it, of the Scriptures, must
have been of gentle and familiar manners. I do
not doubt, at the same time, but that the name
Tzippher was used for certain small birds beside
the one so particularly noticed.
But let the reader pause over the thought of the
sparrow making a nest for herself, and where in
safety she might lay her young, high on the altar of
the Lord's house, far out of the reach of the malice
of all robbers of her nest, or murderers of herself
and her young; and then let him contemplate the
beauty of the similitude, when a child of God flies
to the New Testament altar of his security, even to
Jesus, and finds a rest in him, far above the reach of
all disturbers of his repose, by resting in him, and
resting to him, yea, making Jesus himself his rest,
and his portion for ever ! (See Ps. lxxxiv. 1 — 4.)
SPIKENARD. So called from Narred or Nard.
We meet with this word not very frequently in
Scripture. The spouse in the Canticles speaks of
it. (Song i. 14.) — And the woman who anointed the
head of Jesus before his sufferings, is said to have
done it with the ointment of spikenard. (Mark xiv.
3.) Certainly in both it was figurative. The spike-
nard itself is a small uninteresting shrub, not likely
to attract the attention of any which are fond of
863
plants, for there is no beauty in it ; yet the smell
and fragrancy of it is said by some to be unequal-
led. So that in whatever point of view we esteem
the figure or similitude, whether in allusion to
Christ, or his church, or his gospel, the resem-
blance is striking. What so humble, low, despi-
sed, and overlooked as Jesus, though the plant of
renown ? (Ezek. xxxiv. 29.) " There was no beauty
that we should desire him" — and yet what fra-
grancy, like the sweet incense of his blood Fand
righteousness, to perfume the persons and offerings
of his people ? So his church ; what more contemp-
tible in the eyes of the great ones of the earth ? — ■
or his gospel, what more despised and set at
nought ? Yet how lovely, and how fragrant, in the
view of Jesus ! Hear what Jesus saith, u How fair
is thy love, my sister, my spouse ; how much better
is thy love than wine, and the smell of thine oint-
ments than all spices !" (Song iv. 10.) Oh, for
grace to echo back to such matchless grace —
While the king sitteth at his table — while his grace
and the influences of his Holy Spirit, are calling
forth into lively exercise those blessed principles
he himself hath planted in my heart — " my spike-
nard sendeth forth the smell thereof." Yea, Jesus
himself is the spikenard of my soul ; his person,
his blood, and righteousness, are an everlasting
fragrancy to come up before my God as a sweet-
smelling savour.
SPIRIT. See Holy Ghost.
SPITTING. We meet with so much in the holy
Scriptures on the subject of spitting, and the being
spitted upon, and in the eastern world, among the
customs and manners of the people, the thing itself
was considered a matter of such great reproach, that
I have thought it worth while to consider it some-
what particularly. And I am the more inclined to
86-1
this,, from the treatment shewn to our blessed and
adorable Redeemer in this way, concerning- whom
it is said, with peculiar emphasis, u he hid not his
face from shame and spitting." (Isa. 1. 6.)
In order to have the better apprehension of the
subject, we must look as far back as theLevitical law,
where we find that even the spittle of an unclean
person, though not accompanied with any anger, get
it falling by accident upon another, was considered a
defilement ; and the person so spit upon was un-
clean until the even. (See Lev. xv. 8.) But when
this was done by design, and accompanied with
anger, the uucleanness and the disgrace were con-
sidered more flagrant. Thus in the case of a father's
spitting in his child's face it should seem that this
was tantamount to the leprosy, for the same law,
and by the Lord's own appointment, took place
in both cases — the child was shut out of the camp
for seven days. (Compare Num. xii. 14, with Lev.
xiii, 50.)
We may farther remark, that the action of spit-
ting was made a matter of shewing the most sove-
reign contempt in the eastern world, in some of the
most important circumstances of life. Thus the
woman who was refused by her brother's husband,
was to testify her utter abhorrence of him by spit-
ting in his face ; and this together with the loosen-
ing the shoe from his foot, was considered as the
greatest of all possible reproaches. So that from
henceforth his name was called in Israel, " The
house of him that hath his shoe loosed." (See Deut.
xxv. 5—10.)
These circumstances may serve to explain in
some measure with what abhorrence the action of
spitting upon another was considered in the man*
ners of the east. When it was done in anger, it
was looked upon as the greatest of all outrages :
S P 8$5
and even when done unintentionally no affront
in common life was equal to it. A French writer
(Niebuhr) in giving his history of the Arabs, saith,
" I remember to have seen in a caravan one of
the company spitting from it sideways, and the
spittle by accident fell upon the beard of another
standing by. The offender instantly not only beg-
ged pardon for what every one saw was uninten-
tional, but kissed his beard in token of respect.
This had the desired effect, and seemed to pacify ;
and perhaps nothing but the kiss would have re-
paired the wrong."
I have introduced these observations merely by
way of offering another, which 1 humbly conceive
is of infinitely greater importance ; I mean in respect
to the personal indignities shewn to the Lord Jesus
Christ in the article of spitting upon him. Few
writers which I have met with take notice in terms
equal to its importance, according to my view of
the subject, of those indignities manifested to
Christ. And yet it should seem that the Holy
Ghost hath laid great stress upon them ; yea Jesus
himself referred to them by the spirit of prophecy
ages before his incarnation. He speaks of it as a
thing done even then, so much was it upon his holy
mind — "I gave my back (said Jesus) to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair;
I hid not my face from shame and spitting." (Isa. I.
6.) And it is expressly said by his servant the
apostle, that for the glory which was set before him,
he endured the cross, and despised the shame.
(Heb. xii. 2.)
I do not presume to speak decidedly upon a sub-
ject so infinitely great, and wrapped up as it is in
mystery ; but 1 confess that I am inclined to think
that no small part of the glory of Christ's work in
redemption consisted in the humiliation of the Son
VOL. VI. 3 K
8b'6 S P
of God in the accomplishment of it. If he who
knew no sin became sin, and he who had incurred no
penalty became a curse, well may it be supposed
that he who knew no shame should be exposed to
the greatest shame, to do away both the sin, curse
and the shame, which Adam's transgression had
brought upon the whole church when he had made
the whole earth naked to their shame.
Let the reader pause over the solemn and affect-
ing subject ; let his faith take wing, and flee to the
solemn spot of Gethsemane, Pilate's hall, and
Mount Calvary ; let him in imagination behold the
meek and unoffending lamb of God in the midst of
the bulls of Bashan, and view him giving his back
to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked
off his hair, and hiding not his face from shame and
spitting ; let him behold the crown of thorns, and
the reed for a sceptre, and the gorgeous robe, the
bowing of the knee in mockery, and the wagging
of the head in derision, spitting in his face, blind-
folding him, and striking him with the palms of their
hands ; let him behold all these forming a horrid
mixture of cruelties, and the whole will serve, in
some measure, though faintly, to represent the Re-
deemer's sufferings in this particular.
And amidst all these instances of mockery and
shame, so cruelly and wantonly poured upon the
sacred person of Jesus, there was one to heighten
all, which I believe never before was heard of in the
annals of mankind, in the vilest malefactor
which ever suffered death for his crimes ; I mean
when the rabble mocked at the dying prayers or
Jesus, and endeavoured to turn them into ridicule.
It was said by Jesus ages before this great event
took place, when speaking by the spirit of pro-
phecy in allusion to his Father's hiding his face,
" Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame,
S P 867
and my dishonor : mine adversaries are all before
thee : reproach hath broken my heart." (Ps. lxix.
19, 20.) When therefore, under the pressure ol a
broken heart, Jesus cried out, " Eli, Eli, why hast
thou forsaken me ?" instantly they perverted the
cry of Jesus, and jeered him, as if instead of call-
ing as he did, upon his God and Father, he had
called for one that was no helper, in Elias, and cru-
elly insulted him with adding-, K Let be, let us see
whether Elias will come to save him !"
Reader, I would only add, amidst the glories of
Jesus, in the hall of Pilate, and on the cross, do not
overlook the glory of the Son of God in the volun-
tary shame he endured. If Adam hath made us by
original sin naked, and we all by actual transgres-
sion have done the same — behold Jesus stripped
and made shame for us, as well as sin and a
curse, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Think often of him who hid not his
face from shame and spitting ; and in the moment
of such views of his unequalled shame and igno-
miny, recollect that when Jehovah brought in this
first-begotten into the world, he said, " Let all the
angels of God worship him." Precious Lord
Jesus ! the hour is hastening when that sacred head
once crowned with thorns, and that glorious face so
blasphemously spit upon, shall be seen with holy
joy by all thy redeemed, when " every knee shall
bow before thee, and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Amen."
SPRINKLE and SPRINKLING. The Scripture
sense of those acts being very interesting, renders
it necessary that we should have a proper idea
thereof; and therefore 1 have thought it not im-
proper to detain the Reader with a short observa-
tion.
3 K 2
868
The first account we meet with in the Bible con-
cerning- sprinkling- as a religious ordinance, is at the
institution of the Passover, when Moses, at the com-
mand of the Lord, enjoined the children of Israel
to take of the blood of the lamb appointed to be
slain, and strike the two side posts and on the up-
per door post of the houses, where they eat the
Passover. And hence, in allusion to this, we find
the Holy Ghost, by his servant the apostle, telling
the church in after-ages that they were come to the
blood of sprinkling. (Compare Exod. xii. 7. with
Heb. xii. 24.) So that we cannot err in making ap-
plication from the type to the thing signified ; and
as the Holy Ghost in so many words calls Christ
our Passover, (1 Cor. v. 7.) hence the blood of
sprinkling must mean the application of the whole
benefits of Christ's sacrifice and death to the souls
of his redeemed. And hence, when the Holy
Ghost is recording the faith of Moses, in his view,
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Spirit ex-
presseth the whole of Moses's dependance upon
Christ by this one act of the ordinance appointed —
"Through faith he kept the passover, and the
sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first
born should touch them." (Heb. xi. 28.) We find
the same blessed allusion to Christ and his blood
in other acts of the Jewish law. (See Lev. vii. 14.
Num. xix. 18, 8cc.) And the apostle Peter express-
ed the whole of the fulness of Christ's salvation,
and the two grand branches of it, the obedience
and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
That is, his active and his passive obedience,
(1 Pet. i. 2.)
It may not be amiss to add that such was the
custom in the eastern world in the article of sprink-
ling, that great part of their salutations and wel-
comes were manifested by this ceremony. One of
S T soa.
our own countrymen in his travels saith that he was
sprinkled with the water of orange flour, as a grate-
ful refreshment. And a French author relates the
the same thing as a custom of the eastern manners,
in courtesy and affection. I do not take upon
me to determine the matter, but I would ask, is it
not probable the custom was taken from Scripture ?
and is it not probable also that the meaning of it
had an allusion to the precious doctrine of the ap-
plication and sprinkling of the blood of Christ?
It is worthy of farther remark, as an additional rea-
son to this probability, that one of the prophets
when speaking of Christ, said that he should sprin-
kle many nations. (Isaiah lii. 15.) And another
prophet was commissioned to teach the church that
their recovery from sin and from all uncleanness
should be accomplished by the Lord's sprinkling
the people with the clean water of his covenant,
even the blood of Christ. " Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I
cleanse you." (Zech. xxxvi. 25.)
STAR. I should not have paused over this word
which we meet with in the bible, had it not been that
among the numberless names, by which the Lord
Jesus is distinguished in Scripture, he condes-
cended to be called the bright and morning Star.
It is always profitable to eye the Lord Jesus
Christ under any, and every name, by which the
Holy Ghost reveals him. And there is somewhat
very gracious and interesting in this similitude of a
star, and particularly in that of the bright and mor-
ning star. The Hebrews called the Star Chocab.
And that memorable prophecy the Holy Ghost ex-
torted from the mouth of Balaam, no doubt had an
allusion to Jesus the bright, and morning star. And
so again in the instance of Caiaphas. Let the reader
870
compare Num. xxiv. 17. with John x 49. — 52.
Those united views of Balaam and Caiaphas will
shew how the Holy Ghost, by his sovereign power,
overrules the minds of men to say and predict some-
times the very reverse of what they intend, and
makes them the unwilling- instruments of proclaim-
ing- his precious truths.
It is very blessed to behold how the Lord Jesus is
distinguished in Scripture by his different names,
and offices, and characters. And it is doubly
blessed to behold how Jehovah delights to hold
him forth to his church's view under every sweet
and endearing manifestation, by which he may be
brought home to the warmest affections of the heart
of his redeemed, and formed in them the hope of
glory. All, and every name, and perfection
and grace, ascribed to the person of the Lord
Jesus, shews that Jehovah's great intention hath
been from everlasting to exalt and glorify his dear
Lord. And if the reader, as he reads his Bible,
would remark it, he would discover that whenever
the Lord speaks of any thing of eminency, or great-
ness, or glory, it is by way of introducing the Lord
Jesus. Hence, he speaks of himself as the light
and the life of men, the light of the world, the sun
of righteousuess, the bright and morning star.
Hail ! I would say for myself and readers, hail the
blessed brightness of thy Father's glory, and the
express image of his person ! Do thou in mercy
arise, morning by morning, upon my soul, to chase
away all the remaining darkness of my poor wintry,
cold, and cheerless heart, and give me grace to be-
hold thee, and accept thee, as the sure pledge of
that everlasting day, whose sun shall no more go
down, but the Lord himself will be " my everlasting
light, and my God, my glory." (Isaiah lx. 19.)
STATUTES. See Testimonies.
871
STOICKS. We meet with 1his word but once, as I
remember, in the whole Bible, namely (Acts xvii.
18.) But it may not be improper, though but once
met with in the word of God, to observe upon it
that it refers to a Sect which in every age hath
been numerous and decided enemies to the truths
of God. The Sect took their name from a Greek
word, signifying a Porch, because it is said that
Zeno, a Philosopher of these ages of darkness,
taught his pupils in a porch, in the city of Athens.
Indifferency to all feeling, human pride, in the
strength of human reason, being sufficient to bear
a man up against all the trials and afflictions of life.
These were among the distinguishing doctrines of
the Stoicks. How utterly contradictory to the
word of God, and to the experience of all mankind.
From such false doctrines and mistaken pride
of the unhumbled heart, may the Lord deliver all
his people !
SUN. The Hebrew called the Sun Sheraesh from be-
ing the great luminary of the heavens. And from
its beneficial use and influence, as appointed by
the great Creator, it is no wonder that men in the
darkened state of a fallen nature, made it the idol
of worship. It is only from Revelation, that we
learn that the Sun in all his brightness, is but the
creature of God. And hence, under diving teach,
ing, Job could and did say, that he dared not to
kiss his hand in token of adoration when he saw
the Sun shining in his strength, or the Moon walk-
ing in her brightness. (Job xxxi. 26 — 28.)
The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to teach the
church to consider the Sun as the servant of the
Lord Jesus, and as becoming a faint emblem of his
glorious shining. The prophet Malachi to this pur-
pose was " commissioned to say, that to them that
feared the name of the Lord, the sun of righteous-
872
ness should arise with healing in his wings." (Mai.
iv. 2.) And indeed when we consider that the
Sun, as the creature of God, becomes the source
and fountain of light and life to the whole world, of
animal and vegetable life; there is certainly a
great beauty in the allusion to him, the Sun of
righteousness, from whom the whole of the spiritual
as well as the natural world, derive their very be-
ing, their upholding, and prosperity. Who shall
describe the wonderful, unbounded, and endless
influence of the Lord Jesus, in calling into life,
continuing and carrying on that life, and warning,
referring, healing, and in short imparting all the
properties of the sun of righteousness in his blessed
and everlasting influence on the souls of his people.
But the emblem of the Sun of this lower world, con-
sidered as referring to Christ the Sun of righ-
teousness, falls far short in a thousand iustances
where Jesus becomes most precious to his people.
The planet of the day reacheth but to the day, and
leaves a long wintry night wholly destitute of his
power. Not so with Jesus, his is a Sun that goes
not down, but frequently in the darkest shades of
sorrow, makes his rays most bright and glorious.
Very blessedly therefore the Holy Ghost caused it
to be recorded by one of the prophets, that when
the Lord Jesus shall come to be glorified by his
saints, and admired in all that believe that his supe-
rior lustre shall make his creature the sun to blush
and not shine before him. "Then shall the moon be
confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord
of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jeru-
salem, and before his antients gloriously." (Isaiah,
xxiv. 23.)
SURETY.. This is a very important term to be per-
fectly understood, from being the very character of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who became the Surety for
s u
873
his church and people. It was an antient custom
among- the Hebrews to admit of a surety or spon-
sor for each other. Tims, if a man became bound
for another, he was called his surety. And it should
seem to have been the method upon all these oc-
casions, that when one became responsible for
another, he struck hands with the creditor. We
find Judah pledging- himself as a surety to his Fa-
ther for his brother Benjamin. (Gen. xlii. 37.) And
Job and Solomon both take notice of the same,
under the article of suretyship. (See Job xvii. 3.
Prov. vi. 1, 2.) But I should not have thought it
necessary to have introduced the subject in this
place, had it not been with a view to have brought
the reader into a more intimate acquaintance with
the nature of a surety as it concerns the person of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Here the matter becomes
so abundantly interesting, that it merits the closest
regard of his people.
The Holy Ghost by his servant the apostle Paul,
hath informed the church that Jesus u was made
surety of a better testament," that is the testament
or covenant of redemption by Christ's blood. (Heb.
vii. 22.) By which we undesrtand that in the antient
settlement of eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ stood
up at the call of his Father, the covenant Head and
Surety of his people, to answer both for their debt
and their duty. So that he stood in their law, room,
and stead, in all he did and suffered, and it was co-
venanted and agreed upon by the Almighty Cove-
nanters, that all Jesus did and suffered should be
put to their account. This is the idea of a surety,
and Christ was precisely this. So that when he had
fulfilled all righteousness, and by his spotless sa-
crifice had done away all the penal effects of sin, his
people were to all eternity and purposes, righteous
in his righteousness, and free from all sin in his
blood. Such is the idea of a surety considered with
874
an eye to Christ. Blessed are they who are inte-
rested in it, and who no longer seek for justification
but in him who is made the Surety of a better tes-
tament than the old covenant of a man's own works.
All of this description find the blessedness of being
accepted in the Suretyship of the Lord Jesus, and
can join the prophet's declaration: " Surely shall
one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and
strength : even to him shall men come, and all that
are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory." (Isaiah xlv. 24, 25.)
SUSANNA. A name well known in Scripture; pro-
bably derived from Shoshan, a lily, or rose. And
some have thought on this account that the church
calls herself Shoshan, when in the Canticles she
saith, " I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the
vallies." And if so, it is worthy remark that Jesus
confining this name to his church, when immedia-
tely after he adds, " as the lily among thorns, so is
my love among the daughters." (See Song ii.
1, 2.) But whether so or not, certain it is that
the church in Christ's esteem is, as Shoshan,
that is, both the rose and the lily, for grace, loveli-
ness, and fragrancy. Let any one behold the
church made white, or the lily in her Redeemer's
righteousness, or red as the rose, being washed in his
blood; let the fragrancy of the graces of faith and
love, when going forth in the lively exercise upon
the person of her Lord, be considered ; let the fruit-
fulness of the once wilderness state of the heart,
now blossoming like the rose, be marked : and
when like the rose the odour is called forth and ex-
haled by the sun's beams shining upon her, and let
every one then say, what can be more beautifully
descriptive of the church than such emblems.
SYRIA. The principal city of Damascus: made
memorable from the frequent wars with Israel.
T A
875
T
TAANACH. A province in Canaan. In the division
made by Joshua, it was given to Manasseh in the
portion of Issachar and Asher. (SeeJoshua xvii.
11.) But in Deborah's song of victory, she describes
the battle of Sisera as near these borders. (Judges
v. 19.) Perhaps the name itself is derived from
Hanah, to humble.
TABBATH. A place to which the Midianites fled
in the battle of Gideon. (Judges vii. 22.) The
word means goodness, from Job, good.
TABERAH. In the encampment of Israel. So called
from the burning there. (See Numb. xi. 3. in the
margin of the Bible.)
TABERNACLE. Various are the significations of
this word in Scripture. Sometimes it is intended
to mean the place of worship the Israelites had
in the wilderness. At others, is meant no more
than a common dwelling place. Thus, Eliphas
adviseth Job to put away iniquity from his taberna-
cles. (Job xxii. 23.) But in a much higher sense
than every other, Christ's human nature is said to
be the true tabernacle which "the Lord pitched,
and not man." (Heb. viii. 2.) And as this view of
the word tabernacle throws aside the consideration
of every other ; so doth the contemplation of this
furnish a subject of everlasting pleasure and
delight.
The Holy Ghost by the apostle informs the
church, that this tabernacle of the human nature of
Christ was the dwelling place of Jehovah. "In him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.*'
876
T A
(Coloss. ii. 9.) Not as the Holy Ghost dwelleth
in the bodies of his people which are said to be his
Temple, (1 Cor. vi. 19.) but substantially, person-
ally, permanently, and for ever. So the Godhead
fills the human nature of Christ. For that nature
being filled with the divine, receives the same
effect as iron heated in the fire is made fiery, like
the fire which is filled by it. So the Godhead
dwells bodily in the manhood of Christ. What a
blessed soul-refreshing view of the Lord Jesus as
Jehovah's Tabernacle, is this !
And what endears it yet more is, that the Holy
Ghost immediately adds in the following Scripture,
concerning the church's interest and completeness
in him, u And ye are complete in him." (Coloss.
ii. 10.) Founded in his marvellous person, the
church hath her Tabernacle in Christ Jesus, her
resting place, her sure portion for grace here, and
glory for ever.
Pause, I beseech you, reader, over the soul-
transporting subject. Behold Jesus, (yea thy Jesus,
if so be united to him by the Holy Ghost) in his
mediatorial fulness as the Tabernacle of Jehovah.
Here to this one glorious individual person, the
Christ of God, Jehovah communicates his person-
ality, his subsistence, or to use the words of Scrip-
ture : " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-
head bodily." And by virtue of Christ's human
nature, to which his whole body, the church, is
united ; all, and every individual member, the
weakest and humblest, as well as the strongest and
the highest, have their completeness in the justify-
ing righteousness of his person to bear them up, and
bring them on before Jehovah, in grace here, and
to bear them home, and bring them in before Jeho-
vah in his three-fold character of person, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, in glory for evermore. Oh,
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the blessedness of that tabernacle, u which the Lord
pitched, and not man \"
TABITHA. It should seem that this is rather a
Syriac than a Hebrew word, meaning clear-sighted,
as some think. We find an honourable widow called
by it in the Acts of the apostles, whose death gave
occasion for the Holy Ghost by the ministry of the
apostle Peter, to manifest his almighty power in
raising her again. (See her history, Acts ix.
36, &c.)
TABLE. We meet with this word in the Holy Scrip-
tures for various and very different purposes. The
Table of the Lord, the Table of Shew-bread, the
Tables of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai,
are all of them very different to each other, both in
their office and design. I must refer the reader to
the sacred word itself, for the several explanations of
each. (See Exod. xxxii. throughout. Num. iv. &c.)
But I detain the reader to make a short remark on
the method constantly used in the old church, in
providing such rich and costly provisions for the
Lord's table in the Temple. (See Exod. xl.4, &c.)
Surely, these things were emblematical of the
Lord's table under the New Testament dispensation.
The bread and the wine, and the salt of the Cove-
nant, (See Levit. ii. 13.) and the lamps constantly
burning, and the perfumes always shedding forth
their fragrancy : what could be more expressive of
the Lord Jesus, and his rich and costly salvation ?
He is himself the living bread, and not only the
salt of the covenant, but the whole of the cove-
nant. (See Isaiah xlii. 6.) The sum and substance
of it, the Messenger, the Surety, the Fulfiller, the
Administrator, the All in all. And at his table every
view of his endearing character is set forth in his
body represented as broken, and his blood shed,
with the enlightenings of his holy Spirit, and all the
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graces he sheds abroad in the hearts of his re-
deemed guests, as the costly perfumes of his in-
cense and sacrifice. Lord grant that when thy
people sit at thy table, they may have to say, " the
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com-
munion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we
break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ?" (1 Cor. x. 16.)
TABOR. See Mount Tabor.
TABRIMON. The father of Benhadad, King of
Syria, made memorable from his wars with Israel.
(1 Kings xv. 18.) His name is compounded of Job,
good — and Rimmon, the fruit pomegranate.
TAHAPENES. A city of Egypt. It is spoken of
by the prophet Jeremiah. It is an Egyptian word,
but supposed to be derived from a root, which sig-
nifies hidden. Tradition will have it, that Jeremiah
was buried there. We know that he was carried
thither. (See Jer. xliii. throughout.)
TALENT. Called in Hebrew Chiquar. In gold, it
was worth 54,7521. and in silver 3421. or there-
abouts.
TALITHA CUMI. Perhaps the former of these
words is Syriac and means young women ; and the
latter is Hebrew Cumic, arise. (See Mark v. 41.)
TALMUD. Although we do not meet with this
word in the Bible, yet as the Jews are very tena-
cious of what they called their Talmud, I thought
it might not be amiss just to notice it in a short way.
The word Talmud or Thalmud, means to teach.
And the Talmud contains the substance of the Jews'
doctrine and traditions in religion and morality.
They have the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Tal-
mud of Babylon, according to the different periods
in which they were compiled. As may be supposed,
it consists in a multitude of unfounded histories: in
many it is to be feared not unlike the Apocrypha.
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Since the invention of printing, there have been
copies of them from the press.
TAMAR. A character remarkable in Scripture.
•We have her history in Gen. xxxviii. throughout.
Her name signifies palm-tree. There are some
circumstances in the history of this woman which
strike the mind with astonishment. We read them,
we ponder them, and when this is done we com-
monly say, the " Lord's thoughts are not our
thoughts, neither our ways his ways." (Isaiah lv.
8.) It is a very remarkable circumstance also, that
in the genealogy given by the Evangelist Matthew,
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in the first chapter of his gospel,
no mention is made of any women but of this Tha-
mar, verse 3 ; of Rachab or Rahab the harlot, verse
5; Ruth the poor Moabitess, verse5; and Bathsheba
the wife of Uriah, verse 6. Was this intentional
to set forth the grace of Jehovah and the un-
parralleled condescension of the Lord Jesus ?
Who shall answer the question ? Who shall ex-
plain the subject? One thing is certain ; as every
thing in redemption is mysterious, so in our exer-
cises on mysteries the lowest humbleness of opinion
becomes the highly-favoured objects of such un-
heard of mercy. Lord ! I would say for myself
and reader, " thy way is in the sea, and thy path in
the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known."
(Ps. lxxvii. 19.)
TAMMUZ. Perhaps this might be taken from the
word Ammuz, which means somewhat concealed.
We no where meet with the word but Ezek. viii.
14. And the Holy Ghost, by his servant the pro-
phet, hath thought proper to say so little upon it,
that we can only form conjectures from the Scrip-
tures connected with it. As this was an age when
Israel were gone far into idolatry, it should seem
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that this was an idol particularly worshipped by the
women, as the sun was the idol of the men. And
from the connected circumstances with the idolatry
of the neighboring nations, there is reason to be-
lieve that acts of obscenity and lewdness accom-
panied this horrid species of Israel's transgressions.
One of the old writers, David Kimchi, hath gone
so far as to explain according to his views, and per-
haps from tradition, that this figure of Tammuz
was made of hollow brass, the eyes of the figure
filled with a composition that when melted from the
heat of a fire made within, seemed to drop like
tears ; and that upon those occasions the women
at their festivals presented themselves before the
idol as weeping before it. Oh, what an awful
state is our nature reduced to by the fall ! (See
Moloch.)
TARES. Our blessed Lord having been graciously
pleased to speak of the mysteries of his kingdom
under the similit ude of good seed, as in opposition
to tares, the subject becomes exceedingly interest-
ing, that we may obtain a just and proper notion
concerning the tares.
I do not presume to speak decidedly on any sub-
ject but such as God the Holy Ghost hath been
pleased most clearly to reveal ; and therefore what
the eastern writers have said on the article of tares,
I only venture to relate, as the matter appears in
their account, leaving the reader to his own con-
clusions under the grace of God. But if what they
have said concerning tares be true, it serves to
throw a more beautiful light on our Lord's parable
concerning them than is generally understood.
They describe the tares, as in form and colour,
so much alike to the pure grain, that to a common
eye the difference is not discernable. In the blos-
soming season the resemblance is said not to be
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so striking- then as in the earlier appearance ; but
from that time to the fruit forming- and advancing
to ripeness, the discovery becomes more and more
discernable. Hence, the reader will remember the
caution given by the householder, not to gather up
the tares until the time of harvest, lest in plucking-
up the tares the servants should gather up the true
seed with them.
But what makes the parable of Christ so truly
striking on the subject is, that while the tares are
said to have carried with them so strong a resem-
blance to the pure seed, the tares differed so very
highly from it in quality as to be little short ot
being poisonous. They possessed the power of
intoxicating, and formed a very heavy load on the
stomach of those, who by accident, gathered them
mingled with their corn.
The parable of our Lurd of the wheat and tares
contains in its first plain and obvious sense many
delightful instructions ; but under this view which
eastern writers give, that tares are not simply
weeds, that by springing up with good seed check
the growth, but are destructive and poisonous, the
parable becomes infinitely more pointed. Our
Lord indeed, when speaking of the tares, and ex-
plaining to his disciples in private the parable, ex-
pressly calls them " the children of the wicked one,
and the enemy that sowed them the devil." (See
Matt. xiii. 38. 39.) But this view of them, as in
their nature poisonous, however in appearance like
to the good seed, is certainly a striking beauty in
the parable.
I would only beg to add a short observation upon
the subject, and just to say, under this view, how
mistaken must be the notion of those, who fancy
that when our Lord said, Let both grow together
until the harvest, that this was meant to say, per.
VOL. VI. 3 L
882 T A
haps the tares if continued under the means of grace
might become good corn. Surely the Lord Jesus
meant no such thing. Never can the children of
the kingdom become devils, however too often found
in such company, and doing Satan's service, and
wearing his livery. Neither can the children of
the wicked one become heirs of the kingdom, how-
ever like tares in the midst of the good seed they
may grow up in the same field, and bear an out-
ward resemblance for a while to tie true corn.
They are all along defined whose they are, and to
whom they belong ; and to his all-seeing and dis-
criminating eye they are well known, and their dif-
ferent characters, with their final issue, appointed
and determined from everlasting. u In the time of
harvest, (saith the Lord Jesus) I will say to the
reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind
them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat
into my barn." (Matt. xiii. 30.)
TARGUM. This word is not in the Bible, but as
the Jews very much prize their Targum, it may not
be amiss, just in a cursory way to notice it. The
name itself signifies explanation. Sometimes the
word is found in the plural number, Targumim,
meaning that more than one subject is explained.
No doubt, the Targum, took its rise from the
Chaldee Paraphrase of the books of the Old Tes-
tament. And it is more than probable that this
Targum was read to the people at the reading of
the Scriptures after their return from Babylon ;
for it is said that when they read in the book of
the law, " they gave the sense, and caused them to
understand the reading." (Neh. viii. 8.)
The Jews speak with great confidence of the
Targum. They have what is called the Targum of
Jonathan, and the Targum of Onkelos. Jonathan
was about 30 years before the coming of our Lord,
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and Onkelos somewhat later. They are said to be
but short ; the former chiefly on the prophecies,
and the latter on the five books of Moses.
TARSHISH. The sea-port where Solomon's fleets
were. (1 Kings x. 22.)
TEKEL. Part of the hand writing- on the wall of
Belshazzar's palace. (Dan. v. 25.) The word
means weight, from Thechel, to weigh.
TEKOA. A. city of Judah. (2 Chron. xi. 6.) So called
from Thakah.
TEMPLE. This word in Scripture, though gene-
rally made use of to express one and the same
thing, namely, the house of God, hath various refer-
ences in relation to the divine glory. There was
no building in the church of God called the temple,
until the one built by Solomon. Before those days
the house appropriated for the worship of the Lord
was called the tabernacle, or sanctuary. But when
the Lord had instructed his people by his servant
Nathan the prophet, (see 2 Sam. vii.) concerning
the temple, we find Solomon, by the Lord's appoint-
ment, building this first temple on Mount Moriah.
And independent of every other consideration, how
blessedl, did the very spot typify Christ, the true
temple for the glory of Jehovah to be manifested in.
This temple was begun somewhat about a thousand
years before Christ, and took nine years in building.
The desolation of Jerusalem by the king of Baby-
lon at the captivity, brought on the desolation also of
the temple,until it was totallydestroy ed in theeleventh
year of Zedikiah , after it had stood amidst many
ravages and injuries, from ihe plunder of the enemies
of Israel, somewhat more than four hundred years.
During the captivity of Babylon the temple re-
mainedin ruins; but in the first year of Cyrus at Baby-
lon, the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem,
and to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And amidst
3 l 2
884
much persecution and many interruptions, the people
accomplished the purpose, and the second temple
was completed at a period of somewhat more than
five hundred years before the coming- of Christ. I
refer the reader to the prophecies of Haggai. and
Zechariah,and to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah,
for the Scriptural account of this great event.
This second temple continued until the manifes-
tation of the Lord Jesus Christ in substance of
our flesh, thereby confirming and fulfilling the pro-
phecy of Haggai ii. 9, " The glory of this latter
house shall be greater than of the former, saith the
Lord of hosts." And this was literally the case
from the presence of Jesus, notwithstanding it had
none of the five signs which Solomon's temple had,
namely — 1. The Urim and Thummim ; 2. the ark
of the covenant ; 3. the fire upon the altar, which
never went out ; 4. the Shechinah, or manifesta-
tion of the Lord's presence : 5. the spirit of pro-
phecy. When Jesus entered the temple, his pre-
sence became the sum and substance which all
these signs did but faintly resemble and minister
unto ; and therefore confirmed Jehovah's promise
of the greater glory of the second, than of the first
temple.
But the great object, the temple itself in both,
and indeed in all other instances represented, was
the person of Christ in his human nature ; u for in
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
(Col. ii. 9.) Hence, therefore, as in the tabernacle-
in the wilderness, and in the temple at Jerusalem,
the glory of the Lord was graciously manifested
to the people to intimate the divine presence, so
in the person of Christ Jesus, all that is visible
in Jehovah did appear. See those sweet Scriptures
in confirmation. (Johnii. 19 — 21. Ephes.ii.20 — 22.)
See Tabernacle.
885
TEMPTATION. This word is perfectly understood
in relation to the act itself as exercised by the
devil, or bad men, upon the hearts of the Lord's
people. It invariably means exciting them to sin.
But when the word is made use of in respect 10 the
Lord's exercises of his people, it invariably means
the reverse. I beg the reader to turn to the memor-
able instance of Abraham, and consider the result
of that interesting transaction, Gen. xxii. through-
out ; and read also what the apostle James hath
said concerning temptation ; and I venture to
hope, under the Holy Ghost's teaching, the truth
will appear very plain and obvious. (James i.
2—15.)
In addition to these precious things from Scrip-
ture I would beg to subjoin an observation, and
from the same authority, that the exercises of the
Lord's people ought not to be considered in the
light of probation, as some affect to call the pre-
sent life, but as so many proofs of divine love.
"As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, said
Jesus to the church of Laodicea." (Rev. Ill _ 19.)
But this is not as if to see how those whom Jesus
loves will improve the trials and temptations by
which he is exercising their gifts and graces ; for
if this were the case it would be to make the
event of his grace to depend upon their use or
abuse of the mercies given them, and instead of a
covenant of his grace, render their final hope de-
pendent upon a covenant of their good works. Not
so the grace of God which bringeth salvation.
Jesus by his death hath purchased redemption for
his people ; and God the Father hath engaged to
bestow all the blessings of it in his covenant. The
Lord therefore may, and the Lord will, bring his
people as he himself was led up before them into
the wilderness of temptation to try their spirits, and
886
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to prove his faithfulness : but the issue is not doubt-
ful. The covenant stands firm as the ark did in
the waters of Jordan, amidst all the beating waves,
until the people are all clean gone over. And
that sweet promise which belongs to the covenant,
and is a part of it, never hath failed, neither can
fail to every one of the people — " There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to
man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that ye are able, but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye
may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 10.)
TERAPHIM. We meet with this word, Judges
xvii. 5. The translators of the Bible have retained
the word as it is in the original, in this place, and
also Hosea iii. 4 ; but the same word, Gen. xxxi.
19, they have rendered images, though they still
have preserved the word Teraphim in the margin
at that verse. It is attended with no small difficulty
to apprehend what these Teraphim were. It would
be easy to suppose, and indeed at once conclude,
that they were idols for worship, were it not that
the Lord by the prophet Hosea seems to speak in
the Scripture referred to, that the children of
Israel in their desolations should be without them,
which, if idols, would have been their mercy, and
not their misery. Nevertheless, as in the case
of Rachel there seems a pretty clear testimony
that her Teraphim were idols for worship, it is
more than probable the whole we meet with in
Scripture were to the same purpose. (See Gen.
xxxv. 2 — 4.)
TERTIUS. This man hath honourable mention
made of him in Scripture, from his services to the
Apostle Paul. (Rom. xvi. 22. )
TERTULLUS. The famous orator before Felix,
Acts xxiv. 1-— 9. It is somewhat singular that his
T £
8S7
name should be so very suited to his character,
for it is a Greek derivation from Terata logos
and means a teller of lies.
TESTAMENT. This word is very familiar to the
reader of the Bible. Every one knows what is
meant by the New Testament ; bnt perhaps the
peculiar blessedness of the name, seen with an eye
to Christ, is not so richly and so fully enjoyed as
it ought even by real believers. There is indeed
'a most precious savour in the word, when we have
respect to it, as Jesus had to the symbols of his
supper, when he called the sacred service u the
New Testament in his blood."
A testament, in the common acceptation of the
term, implies the last act and will of a person in
disposing of his effects. So the apostle called it,
Heb. ix. 15 — 17. Such therefore was the
blessed act of Christ ; and the gospel was called
so because it contained the legacies and testamen-
tary effects Jesus bequeathed to his church and
people.
In respect to the term, New Testament, that was
not added as if the contents of it differed from the
Old ; for in fact it became a fulfilment, and confirm-
ation of all that went before : every thing in the
Old Testament was the shadow and type of the
New. But the peculiar cause for calling it New
was, as being newly accomplished and sealed by
the blood of its almighty Author ; and when first
so called the Lord Jesus had- but just shed his
blood at Jerusalem.
I cannot dismiss the subject, after thus explain-
ing the meaning of the term itself, without calling
upon the reader to remark with me how very
precious the very name of the New Testament
ought to be to every lover of the Lord Jesus, who
by the regenerating influence of the Holy Ghost
888
is conscious that he is interested in the contents of
it. Reader! pause over the name — "The New
Testament in Christ's blood." Surely, I would
say, Jesus by his death hath confirmed it, and
made all the blessed legacies in it secure and pay-
able. For as the Holy Ghost saith by Paul, " A
Testament is of force after men are dead, other-
wise it is of no strength at all while the testator
liveth." (Heb. ix. 17.) Shall we not enquire then
what Jesus hath left, and to whom he hath left,
his vast property ? We know that all power is his
in heaven and in earth ; all blessings are his, tem-
poral, spiritual, and eternal. And surely it is worth
enquiry after such durable treasure !
Now Jesus, before his departure, expressed
himself to his disciples on this subject when
he said, u Peace 1 leave with you ; my peace
I give unto you ; not as the world giveth
give 1 unto you." (John xiv. 27.) Hence
therefore the legacies of Jesus are to his peo-
ple, his disciples, his children. As men before
they die make their wills, and give their pro-
perty to their relations and friends, so the Lord
Jesus did his. It is his church, his spouse, his
offspring, which are by name mentioned in his
will, and who alone are interested in it. Oh, for
grace then to prove the Lord's will, and instantly
to lay claim to all the legacies contained in it !
Am I married to the Lord, and hath Jesus betroth-
ed me to him for ever ? Am I gathered out of
nature's darkness, and become a child of God
by adoption and by grace ? It is said, If auy
man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Am I a
new creature, renewed by the Holy Ghost ; and
hath the Lord given me a new heart and a new
mind, so that old things arc passed away, and all
things are become new ? Oh ! for the blessed
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discovery of these sure marks of a relationship to
Christ, and in Christ ; for then sure I am, that I
have an interest in Christ's will, and he that
gave himself for me, hath given all blessings to
me. And as he died to make his Testament valid,
so he ever liv eth to be the executor and adminis-
trator of his Testament, and to see the whole
blessings of his will faithfully given to his whole
Church and people. Hail thou glorious Testa-
tor of the New Testament in thy blood !
TESTIMONY and TESTIMONIES. These words
would need no explanation in their simple sense
and meaning, whether as they relate to the Lord's
testimony or to man's. Every one cannot but know,
that the direct tendency of a testimony is to wit-
ness to some certain truth. Thus the whole Bible
is a testimony of Jehovah's sovreign will; and
the Gospel a special testimony of the riches of
his grace in Christ Jesus to the church and
people-
But we meet with the word testimonies in the
book of the Psalms, in a sense so peculiarly
sweet and blessed, that I could not prevail upon
myself to pass it by, without calling the reader's
attention to it.
If the reader will turn to the one hundred-
nineteenth psalm, he will find the word testimonies,
together with nine other words there evidently
placed for the same meaning, which mutually
serve to throw a light upon each other. The
ten words are — testimonies, way, law, command-
ments, precepts, word, judgments, truth, (or
faithfulness) statutes, and righteousness. And
what is very remarkable, one or other of these
ten words is in every verse of that Psalm, ex-
cept one, (as far as my memory helpeth me)
namely, verse 122.
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I beg the reader first to inform himself of
this very striking circumstance, and then to con-
sider, from the manner and occasion in which
the words are applied, what is their obvious
sense and meaning. If, for example, we consider
the common and general acceptation of the word
law, surely the Psalmist David could never be
supposed to say, that the law of Moses as a
covenant of works was his delight and joy, as
he saith the law was in this Psalm, verses 72,
97, &c. Had he been looking to his own per-
sonal performance of the law of God, the conviction
of his manifold breaches of the law would have
made him rather tremble. But if the law spoken
of in this Psalm be considered with an eye to
what the Holy Ghost saith by his servant the
apostle, a that Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth, (Rom.
x. 4.) — and if Christ himself be the speaker re-
presented by his servant the Psalmist, the whole
then is abundantly clear and evident. Jesus
might well say, and Jesus alone could say it,
u I delight to do thy will O my God, yea thy
law is within my heart " — or as the margin ren-
ders it, "in the midst of my bowels," (Ps. xl.
8.) — meaning that it was wrapt up, yea forming
his very nature, from the entire holiness of that
nature. (See Heb. vii. 26.)
In like manner the word testimonies, these
had evidently a reference to the table of tes-
mony in the Jewish church. It was before this
testimony the omer of manna was placed. (See
Exod. xvi. 33, 34.) Now, as the whole of this
service plainly typified Christ, we cannot be at
a loss to discover what is meant under the
term of testimonies in this Psalm, when we
hear the blessed speaker saying, " Thy testimonies
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have I taken as mine heritage for ever, for they
are the rejoicing of my heart." (ver. 111.)
Similar observations might be offered on each
of the other words in this Psalm, but these are
enough in point. I only desire to add, what may
be considered as a key to the whole, that one
verse in the middle of the Psalm determines at
once to whom the whole refers, and who is the
speaker ; and the evangelist's application of the
words to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
very fully confirms it: "My zeal hath consumed
me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy
words," (verse 139. Psalm Ixix. 9. John ii. 17.)
TEXT. This word is generally used to express
the body of Scripture. Thus the Bible itself is
said to be faithfully translated out of the origi-
nal tongues, that is, the text: in opposition to
what may be called human composition. And
hence, the translation becomes a faithful one,
being taken from the original text. The tran-
slation we have in English is among the first,
if not the very first work ever accomplished by-
man, and demands the daily tribute of praise for
it to Almighty God.
THADDEUS. One of the Apostles of Christ, this
was his surname, for Lebbeus was his former
name. (See Matt. x. 3.) If his name was de-
rived from Jaduh or Thaduh, it signifies praise.
THEOPHILUS. The person to whom the Evan-
gelist Luke sent his gospel and the Acts of the
Apostles. His name is a compound of two Greek
words, meaning together, " a lover of God."
(Luke i. Acts i.)
THESSALONIA. This city was in ancient times
the metropolis of Macedonia. Here Paul preached
the gospel, being called to it by a vision. (See
Acts xvi. 9, 10.) And having first preached at
892
Philippi, he afterwards visited Thessalonica, (Acts
xvii. 1, &c.) It was to the church of the Thes-
salonians he sent those two blessed Epistles,
which through grace are in all the churches.
It is probable that the first of those Epistles was
the earliest in point of date, of all the apostle's
writings, being sent to the church about the year
of our Lord God 51.
THIGH. I pause at this word in order to notice
the very remarkable custom, and of the highest
antiquity, observed by the patriarchs, and which it
is said is observed even now by some of the
descendants of Abraham after the flesh, of swear-
ing with the hand under the thigh. Thus we find
Abraham desired his servant Eliezer to swear,
concerning the taking a wife for his son. (Gen.
xxiv. 2.) So in like manner Jacob caused his
son Joseph to swear concerning burying him
not in Egypt. (Gen. xlvii. 29. &c.) It is remark-
able however, that we do not, after these strik-
ing instances, meet with a like ceremony among
the Israelites, of swearing by putting the hand
under the thigh, though there is smiting, in
token of shame and sorrow. (See Jer. xxxi. 19.
Zech. xxi. 12.)
Various have been the opinions of writers as
to the intention and design of it. Some have
supposedx that the oath was to remind the
person taking it, that he and the person de-
manding it, were both circumcised: so that it
was pledging himself by the covenant relation-
ship between them. Others carry the matter far-
ther, and while supposing, as the former, that the
oath had respect to this fraternity and relation-
ship in one common covenant, they add to it
a reference to the person, and the expectation
of the Messiah as the head and substance of
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893
the covenant ; and in confirmation of this opinion
they refer to that passage, Gen. xlvi. 26.
where it is said that " all the souls which came
with Jacob into Egypt, came out of his loins,"
or, as the margin renders it, his thigh. By
which I humbly conceive is meant, as still with
an eye to the covenant, an interest in the Mes-
siah. And if this should have been the allu-
sion, what a blessed testimony doth it hold forth
of the patriarch's esteem of the salvation by
Jesus Christ, and of their faith and assurance
concerning it ! And why may we not suppose that
that early song of the royal nuptial feast of Christ
with his church, which was sung by the psalmist
a thousand years before Christ's incarnation,
had an eye to the same, when Jesus was called
upon to gird himself with his sword upon his
thigh? (Ps. lxv. 3.) We lose numberless beauties
of the holy Scriptures, in our ignorance of the
customs and manners of the East. But if the
loins and thigh in relation to Israel's seed were
the same as we have seen, Gen. xlvi. 26,
surely the girding of Christ and the clothing
of Christ may without violence be considered
not unsimilar. And why may not the Lord be
invocated as the most mighty, with his glory
and majesty to gird himself upon the seed of his
loins or thigh, as God the Father be heard de-
claring concerning the whole seed of Christ,
that he shall be clothed with them ? " As I live,
saith the Lord," speaking to his dear Son as
Mediator, "thou shalt surely clothe thee with
them all as with an ornament, and bind them
on thee as a bride doth." (Isaiah xlix. 19.) But
I add no more, the Lord pardon what I have
already said if I err.
THOMAS. One of the apostles of Christ. His
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history we have in the gospel. His other name
Didymus signifies a twin. And it is remarkable
that the Hebrew for twin is Tham.
THREE. I pause over this number to make a
short observation concerning what we read of
the sacred Three in one described by the Apostle
John, and which bears a beautiful and glorious
correspondence to all the testimonies of the holy
writers in the Bible. " For there are three that
bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Son and
Holy Ghost, and these three are one." (1 John
v. 7.) It is somewhat remarkable that the word
Trinity is never used by any of the sacred writ-
ers : that is to say, by the translators of the
Bible into our mother tongue, while they are so
express in numberless instances, giving the sum
and substance ol it. Evidently many of the old
Rabbi gave distinct names to each glorious person
of the Godhead, as their writings testify. They
called the Father, Jehovah, and the Son, the
Word or Memar : and the Holy Ghost, Ruach.
And they expressed the union of those Three
Glorious persons by the word Shalithith, which
is as near as possible the word Trinity. It
must be confessed, (for it may be very safely
allowed without the smallest injury to the true
faith,) that there are numbers among the Jews
of modern times, who from the ignorance of their
mind and blinded understanding, are looking for
the Messiah in the simple humanity of the man, and
know nothing of Jehovah in his threefold per-
sonality of charac ter. But these do by no means
invalidate the true faith, any more than Socinians
and Arians, by their denial of the Godhead of
Christ. The ancient descendants of Abraham, and
it is to be hoped the modern stock of Israel, though
overlooking the time, have lost not sight of his
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Almighty person. They know what the prophet
said to be true concerning: the Messiah, and ex-
pected him in that character. " Behold, your God
shall come and save you." (Isaiah xxxv. 4.)
THUMMIM. See Urim.
THYAT1RA. A city of the lesser Asia. Here
was one of the seven churches to whom the
Lord Jesus sent his epistles. (See Rev. ii. 18.)
TIMOTHY. A name well known in the New
Testament. The church hath reason to bless
the Lord for the conversion of this man, since
the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to give the
church those two sweet Epistles, addressed to
him by Paul.
TIRZAH. A city in the land of Judea, belong-
ing to Ephraim, and from the days of Jeroboam,
King of Israel, to the reign of Omri, Tirzah was
the royal city and the King's residence.
It is said to have been a beautiful spot, and
the name Tirzah, which comes from a root, signi-
fying somewhat grateful, evidently seems to say so.
Jesus compares his church to it. u Thou art
beautiful, O my love, as " Tirzah, said the Re-
deemer, " comely as Jerusalem and terible as
an army with banners," (Song vi. 4.) And is not
the church all this when beautiful in his salva-
tion, and comely in the comeliness which he hath
put upon her? And what an awe do Jesus's
little ones strike even now upon the ungodly,
when they behold them living in his faith, and
fear and love? And who will dare to oppose
them, by and by, when they shall see the Lord
Jesus come to be "glorified in his saints, and
admired in all them that believe ?"
TITUS. The friend and companion of Paul. We
have a precious epistle addressed to this man
by the Apostle, for which we have great
896
cause to bless the Holy Ghost. (See Epistle
to Titus.)
TOWEL. I have thought it worth the reader's
attention to pause at this word, in order from
the customs of the East to be enabled to form
a better apprehension concerning- the towel with
which the Lord Jesus girded himself when he
washed his disciples' feet. John the Evange-
list, with his usual simplicity of narration, des-
cribes the Redeemer as arising from supper and
laying aside his garments, taking a towel and
girding himself. And then with that unequalled
humility which distinguished the Lord of life
and glory, washing his disciples' feet and wiping
them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
(John xiii. 3, &c.)
We shall have a more lively idea of this most
interesting scene, as well as the wonderful grace
and condescension of the Almighty Redeemer in
this act of his, if we attend to what was the custom
of the dress among those eastern people in the
days of our Lord. "Dr. Shaw, in his Observations
on the customs and manners of the East," hath
very largely entered into the subject, page 292 of
his folio edition. He saith that it was the custom to
wear underneath their hykes (the hyke was a large
woollen blanket) a close bodied frock or tunic, not
unlike the Roman tunic." So that when the Lord
Jesus laid aside his garments he threw off this
hyke, and was then in this close-bodied tunic only.
Such was always the method observed for labour of
all kinds. Similar was the act of Peter on the sea
of Tiberias, when it is said " he girt his fisher's coat
unto him, for he was naked." (John xxi. 7.) It doth
not mean absolutely without the least covering, for
this close-bodied tunic was always upon them.
But it means he had not the hyke girt about him.
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978
In like manner when Peter was in prison, (Acts
xii. 8.) the angel commanded him to cast his gar-
ments (that is this hyke) about him, for he was with
his tunic only before.
Dr. Shaw therefore observes, that the hyke and
burnoose (which was also a cloak or upper garment)
being probably at that time the proper dress or
clothing of the Eastern Nations, as they continue
to be at this day of the Kabyles and Arabs, the lay-
ing them aside, or appearing without them, might
according to the eastern manner of expression, be
other words only for being naked of their hyke. If
these remarks in allusion to the dress of the Ori-
entalsbe properly attended to, they will serve to
throw a light upon many similar passages in holy
writ w Inch we meet with that require some explana-
tion properly to apprehend.
I cannot dismiss this view of Jesus girded with
the towel, and washing the feet of poor fishermen,
w ithout calling upon the reader once more, yea,
evermore, to behold in this endearment of character
the Lord of life and glory. Was there ever an
instance of humility like this? and at a time, it
should be remembered, also, Jesus knew that K all
things were given into his hand as Mediator, the
Sovereign of heaven and earth." (See John xiii. 3.)
Let the souls of all his redeemed take encourage-
ment to come to him from such displays of unequal-
led grace and love. Did Jesus, I would, rnethinks,
have every poor sinner say, did Jesus not think it
unbecoming of him then to wash poor fishermen's feet?
And will he reject the humble cries of poor sinners
now ? Yea, will he not delight to receive them ? Is
he not become more glorious to our view, from be-
coming so gracious to our need ? Precious Lord,
I would say for myself and reader, give each of us
grace to be everlastingly beholding thee in this
\OL. VI. 3 M
898
TO
most lovely portrait girded with thy towel ; and the
lower thou comest down to suit the wants of our
souls, be thou the higher exalted in our hearts, and
live and reign there for ever !
TOWER. We meet with an account of many towers
in the word of God. The tower of Babel. (Gen.
xi. 9.) The tower of Edar. (Gen. xxxv. 21.) The
Migdol at Pihahiroth. (Exod. xiv. 2.) The tower
of Shechem, (Judges ix. 46.) and the like. And
we meet with the word tower sometimes made use
of by way of figure, such as the tower of the flock,
and God is my high tower, &c. The Hebrews call-
ed every tower by the general name of Migdol.
The church is beautifully compared by Christ to a
tower in one of the Songs, Chap. iv. 4. "Thy
neck (said Jesus) is like the tower of David,
builded foran armoury ; whereon there hang a thou-
sand bucklers, all shields of mighiy men." What a
gracious act in the Lord Jesus was it thus to speak
of his church under such a comparison ! The tower
of David, itis well known, was the strong hold of Zion
which he took from the Jebusites, which anciently
possessed what was not their right, Jerusalem.
Now then as David here typified Christ driving out
the strong man armed, who possessed the Lord's
Zion not by right, but by deceit; so when the church
was put in possession by her conquering Lord, her
neck, by which may be considered all her members
united to the head, even the Lord Jesus, becomes
like a tower, impregnable, and which Christ, the
true David, builded for an armoury (for it is Christ
that builds all, and supports and gives life and
strength to all). Here then on him and his building
they hang all their bucklers and shields, even to a
thousand and ten thousand ; for all is founded in
him, and to him, and by him ; on him himself they
"hang all the glory of his Father's house." And
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what endears the whole is, that the humblest and
east, as well as the highest and the best, are like
this neck, like the tower of David, united to the
head. For in this gospel day to which the whole
refers ; " he that is feeble among them at that day-
shall be as David, and the house of David shall be
as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them,
(Isaiah xxii. 22, to the end, Zech. xii. 8.) It is very
blessed to behold Jesus using such strong and
beautiful figures to shew his people's union and
oneness with him, and their everlasting safety and
security in him.
TRADITION. Among the Jews, they had certain
sayings and opinions supposed to be received from
the earliest fathers, and handed down from one
generation to another, which they called traditions.
And in some instances they were more tenacious to
hold and regard them than even the word of God.
Our adorable Lord was constant in reproof con-
cerning them, and hence we find in many parts of
the gospel his just condemnation of them. (See
Matt. xv. Mark vii. &c.) It were to be devoutly
wished that the weakness, and in some instances
the wickedness, of traditions had ceased with Jews
and Christians. But the trumpery of legends and
reliques and the like, which some have held with
equal veneration to the Scriptures, plainly prove that
those things are in common from the folly and corrup-
tion of poor fallen nature, both of Jew and Gentile.
TRAITOR. See Rebel and Rebels.
TRANSFIGURATION. This relates to that glori-
ous scene recorded by three of the Evangelists, in
which the glory of Christ's person broke out in the
presence of the disciples in Mount Tabor. All de-
scription of it fails. I can only therefore refer the
reader to the Scripture account of it, as the Holy
Ghost hath recorded it, Matt. xvii. Mark ix. Luke ix.
3 m 2
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TRANSLATION. The translation of the Holy Scrip-
tures into our English language is among the high-
est instances of divine mercy. And the work itself
may be considered as among the most blessed
monuments of the church. The memory of the
authors of it under the grace of the Holy Ghost is
truly blessed, and proves that Scripture, "the
righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance."
(Ps. cxii. 0.)
TREASURE. The Hebrews had one general name
for treasure, and called it Ozer. The sweetest of
all thoughts is, that Jesus is the treasure of his
people. Jehovah promised the church by Moses,
that he would command the blessing upon Israel
in his storehouses, and in all that he would set his
hand unto. And when the Holy Ghost explains
this to the soul of the redeemed, and he sees that
this is emphatically the blessing; then, and not
before, he enters into an apprehension of the sense
of the covenant promise. Hence, Jesus speaking
under the character of Wisdom-Mediator, saith :
" That I may cause those that love me to inherit
substance, and I will fill their treasures." Where
Jesus is, there is treasure, yea durable riches and
righteousness. But where Jesus is not, nothing, be
it what it may, can be called treasure. (See Deut.
xxviii. 1. 14. Proverbs viii. 18 — 21.)
TREE. We meet with the names of a great variety
of trees in Scripture, but if we may give credit to
ancient writers, there was nothing in the Hebrew
language less determined than the special names
of trees. The sacred writers, however, have very
largely and very beautifully classed them under
their respective names. I do not take upon me to
say that in numberless instances the names and
trees are not figurative, for I rather think they are.
It has been thought so by some writers, and there
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is reason for the opinion ; and when we consider
how God the Holy Ghost, from the description of
the garden of Eden, in the very opening of the
Bible, to the closing' the canon of Scripture, in the
description of the Paradise of God, makes use of
the several names of "the tree of life, and the tree
of knowledge of good and evil," which were evi-
dently symbolical and sacramental, I cannot hut
pause over the several elegantly and highly finish-
ed representations which the whole Book of God
abounds with, more or less, from beginning to end,
and accept them as such. Hence, in this point of
view, are the f trees of the garden and of the forest,
the trees of righteousness, and of the Lord's right
hand planting ;" but chiefly and above all in behold-
ing that most striking and lovely representation of
Jesus, under the similitude of the tree of life. (Rev.
xxii. 2.) Amidst a thousand beauties included in
this lovely figure, how blessed is it to see that in
his person, the life, the fruit, the healing, the sha-
dow of his branches, the everlasting root, the ver-
dure of his leaves, all, and every one, are beautifully
described as figurative of temporal, spiritual, and
eternal blessings in Jesus. And it is not the least
of the beauty of this similitude, that this tree of life
is said to be in the midst of the street, and on
either side of the river. For as the church of Jesus,
though but one, and the only one of her mother,
(Song vi. 9.) is in both worlds, the river of Jordan
only separating in place, but not in union ; Jesus is
equally the life of both, and gives blessedness to
the body below as well as happiness to the society
above. Hail ! thou everlasting and eternal tree of
life ! Cause me to sit down under thy shadow with
great delight this side the river, until thou shalt
bring me home to the everlasting rest and enjoy-
ment of thy fulness, in the paradise of God above.
Amen.
902
T II
TRUMPET. We read much of the use of trum-
pets in the old church in the wilderness. And
as they were formed by the express command of
the Lord no doubt their signification was important.
(See Numb. x. 1, &c.) I do not stay to enter into
particulars, for the limits I must observe necessarily
compel me to be very short on each subject. It
maybe proper however to remark on this particular,
that there were four distinct uses for the service
of the trumpet in the church of Israel. The) had
the trumpet to call the people to their religious
service; the fast trumpet, the feast trumpet, and
the war trumpet, beside the Jubilee trumpet, which
was heard but once in nine and forty years ; and
though it was never heard but on that day, yet so
particular was the sound of it that no captive in
Israel could mistake its meaning. See Jubilee.
TRUTH. If I detain the reader at this word, it is
not simply to explain what is not plain as to require
no comment, as the word is in itself, but it is to re-
mind the reader how sweetly and graciously the
Lord Jesus hath applied it to himself, and deter-
mined that this is one of his precious names, w hich,
for fragrancy, is as ointment poured forth. (See
John xiv. 6.) And this is what the Holy Ghost by
the wise man meant, when he recommended the
church" to buy the truth, and sell it not." (Prov.
xxiii. 23.)
Who can contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ
under this most blessed character, without joining
the apostle in his expressive account rf Jesus—
u This is the true God and eternal life." (1 John v.
20.) For surely Jesus is the whole sum and sub-
tance of all the truths of God ; in his divine nature
the true God, and eternal life ; in his human nature
the true man, whom it behoved to be made like
unto his brethren in all things ; and in the union
of both, the true glory-man, and only Mediator
903
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Hail,
blessed Lord ! I would say, thou art indeed "the
way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by thee : all that the Father
giveth thee shall come to thee : and none that
cometh unto thee, wilt thou in any wise cast out."
(John vi. 37.) See Testimony.
TRYPHENA. A devout follower of the Lord, spoken
of by Paul. (Rom. xvi. 12.) The word is truly fe-
minine, meaning' somewhat tender.
TRYPHOSA. This was another of the devout
Christian women whom Paul makes honourable
mention of, (Rom. xvi. 12.) and her name is to the
same purport, somewhat tender, delicate.
TUBAL. The son of Japheth. (Gen. x. 2.) His
name is probably taken from Thebal, earth. And
there was a Tubal-Cain, son of Lamech. It hath
been thought by some that as Cain is derived from
Canah, this junction seems to imply that this man
had much earthly possession, or perhaps figura-
tively so called from being the first instructor, or
as the margin of the Bible renders it, the whetter
of the metals of the earth. (See Gen. iv. 22.)
TURTLE. The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to
say so much concerning this bird in his sacred word,
that I think it a duty, as well as a pleasure, to en-
quire somewhat concerning a bird so particularly
recommended to our notice.
In the law, we find many offerings appointed of
the turtle ; and before the law, Abraham was di-
rected to the use of the turtle in sacrifice, by the
Lord himself. (See Gen. xv. 9.) But what I
would yet more particularly desire the reader to
regard concerning the turtle, is the application of
it in a figurative way to several characters in Scrip-
ture. The church calls herself the Lord's turtle
dove, (Ps. lxxiv. 19.) and begs the Lord as such
to keep her from her enemies ; and Jesus calls the
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church his dove, (Song ii. 14.) as if in answer to this
cry, and bids her see her security, for that she is
in the cliffs of the rock — perhaps, meaning' the
secret decrees of Jehovah, or, in Christ, the rock
of ages, or probably both.
But some have supposed that by the turtle is
meant God the Holy Ghost, whose voice is said,
(Song ii. 12.) after the long winter of the Jewish
dispensation, to be heard in our land. And no doubt
the voice of the Holy Ghost might truly be said to
be heard, when by the preaching of the gospel sal-
vation was proclaimed in the name, and by the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
While speaking on this subject, I hope I shall
be pardoned when I add, that all representation of
God the Holy Ghost by the pictures and paintings
of a dove are" improper, and disgrace the subject
they are intended to honour ; neither are they
Scriptural, nor founded in any one authority of the
Lord.
I am not to be told that the custom hath arisen
from the subject of our Lord's baptism, where it is
said that " when Jesus went up straightway out of the
water, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and
he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
and lighting upon him." (Matt. iii. 16.) But this by
no means becomes the least authority for the repre-
senting the Holy Ghost as a dove ; for the pas-
sage expressly saith, that the Spirit of God was
seen by Jesus descending as a dove descends, that
is, hovering over a thing, and at length resting
upon it: so the Holy Ghost descended, and rested
upon Christ. But if the passage had meant to say,
that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape and
form of a dove, the words would have been very dif-
ferent. Every one, that knows the original, knows
that the words are (osei peristeran), which is, as
the words are rendered in our Testament, like
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dove ; but if it had been meant to say, that the
Holy Ghost came down in the shape and form
of a dove, the words ought to have been, osei per-
isteras. There is a most essential difference be-
tween the two.
In the descent of the Holy Ghost at ,thj<? day of
Pentecost, we find the representation very much to
the same purport, and if compared with this of St.
Matthew, will serve to throw great light upon it.
" And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." (Acts
ii. 3.) Now here the words are, like as of fire,
(osei puros) not really fire, but like as of fire. So
in the former instance, like a dove ; not really a
dove, but like it ; for it was indeed, and in truth,
the Holy Ghost that hovered over the person of
the Lord Jesus, and rested upon him, as a dove
when descending hovers over a thing, and at length
resteth upon it. This plain illustration of the pas-
sage, will fully prove the meaning of the evangelists,
and, of consequence, shew how unscriptural,
irreverent, and improper, it must be to paint the
invisible and eternal Spirit in the figure of a dove.
And I beg the reader before he dismisseth the
subject, that he will take with him the considera-
tion what a blessed, full, and unanswerable testi-
mony this passage, concerning Christ's baptism,
affords to the glorious doctrine of our holy faith.
" There are three which bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one." (1 John v. 7.) Here was Jesus
in the act of being baptized ; here was the Holy
Ghost descending like a dove, and lighting upon
him ; and here was the voice of God the Father
from heaven saying, " This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased." (Matt. iii. 16, 17.) Reader,
I beseech you to carry this precious testimony
906
about with you wherever you go, as among the
sweetest credentials of your holy religion. It will
serve, under the Lord, to act as an antidote against
the poisonous and pestilential vapours of the pre-
sent adulterous and sinful generation.
TYCHICUS. A friend and companion of Paul.
(Ephes. vi.21.)
TYPES. We meet with this word, as far as I re-
member, but once in the whole Bible, and even
there it is only in the margin, namely, (ICor. x. 11.)
— but the sense of it is too important not to be
known and well regarded. By types, we mean the
figure or shadow of matters they represent. u Thus
the brazen serpent, the scape goat, the lamb of
the morning, and the lamb of the evening, were all
types of the Lord Jesus Christ." Indeed the whole
law was but a type or shadow of " good things to
come, the body was, and is, Christ." And we never
can be sufficiently thankful to God the Holy Ghost
for his gracious condescension in this particular, by
thus mercifully attending to our weakness of ap-
prehension, in the use of types and figures to re-
present divine things by. The Lord cause them to
minister to this end, in our improvement, and to
the divine glory. Amen. See Parable.
V
VAGABOND. This name was given to Cain by the
Lord himself; and it should seem that he, on whom
the Lord pronounced the sentence, whatever it
might in its fullest sense mean, felt the awfulness
of it ; for he mentions it with peculiar distress when
declaring " his punishment to be greater than he
could bear." (See Gen. iv. 21, 13, 14.) lain inclin-
ed to think that the word contains more in it than
is generally supposed. In the sentence on Cain, it
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907
is joined with the word fugitive j so that while, ac-
cording to our ideas, a vagabond implies a state of
restlessness and of wandering, a fugitive carries
with it the notion of flight. So that in both, the
person was without rest, and always on flight, like
Pashur, whose name was Magor-missabib ; that is,
as the margin of the Bible renders it, fear round
about. (Jer. xx. 3.) Even in this point of view the
case was truly awful.
I cannot but think, however, that there was much
more in Cain's sentence concerning these terms of
a fugitive and a vagabond, than what is here sup-
posed. The reader will remember that I do not
speak decidedly upon the subject, but only pro-
pose my views of the passage. I would humbly
enquire, doth not the term mean an everlasting
unsettledness and fear, when it is considered on
whom the sentence was pronounced, and the cause
for which it was passed? Cain had not only mur-
dered his brother, but had rejected, by his offering
without a sacrifice, the salvation by Christ: yea,
the very murder of his brother was induced from
this cause, " because the Lord had respect to Abel
and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not." The Holy Ghost explains the cause —
Abel offered by faith. (Heb. xi. 4.) Cain did not.
Abel had an eye, by his sacrifice, to Christ, and as
such, confessed himself a sinner, who stood in need
of salvation. Cain trusted to his own righteousness
and was rejected: and hence the Lord said," If thou
doest well — that is, if thou offerest a pure, unble-
mished, perfect obedience ; shalt thou not be ac-
cepted?" As if the Lord had said, whosoever
seeks acceptance in himself and his own well-
doing, it must be wholly and completely so: a
failure in a siugle point is a failure in all. Cain
failed, and hence, became a fugitive and a vaga-
COS V A
bond ; and that for ever. " So that the term carries
with it, an exclusion from that rest which remaineth
for the people of God." (Heb. iv. 9. Isa. xxviii. 12.
Matt. xi. 28—30. Ps. cxvi. 7.)
I beg- once more to be understood, while speak-
ing upon the subject, that I do not speak decidedly.
I only conceive that the word vagabond hath some-
what in it of a reprobate state ; and I am the more
confirmed in this opinion from what Satan said of
himself, Job i. 7. He describes himself in the same
state of a vagabond. And it is remarkable that the
Holy Ghost, by his servant John, declares Cain
to be of that wicked one, when speaking of the
children of the devil ; (see 1 John iii. 10, — 12.)
And I would ask whether those vagabond Jews
spoken of, Acts xix. 13. were not of the same
race ? Jeremiah speaks to the same purport, if I
mistake not, chap. vi. 30, under the figure of repro-
bate silver.
Whether the conjecture be, or be not well found-
ed, certain it is that in Scripture language a vagabond
carries with it a high degree of odium, and ought
not to be brought into use in common life, as it is too
often is done to describe the persons of wandering
poor- Many a child of God, it is to be hoped, are
among those poor who are removed from parish to
parish, and whose poverty is their only reproach.
To call such vagabonds, if the Scripture sense of
the word be as I have before stated, is unsuitable in
man, and offensive to God.
VAIL or VEIL. I think it right to stop at this word,
because we meet with it very often in the Scrip-
ture, though it is to be lamented that our little
acquaintance with the customs of the people of
the East, makes us lose numberless beauties in
the sacred volume, when we meet with expressions
of a local nature, for want of being acquainted
with their manners and customs.
V A
The vails worn by the women, were chiefly, no
doubt, intended tor the concealinentof their persons.
Female children were no vails, we are told by the
historians of those countries, until they had arri-
ved at seven or eight years of age ; after that, if a
woman was seen uncovered, it became the mark of
a woman of ill-fame. Hence Rebekah put on the
vail on her approach to Isaac. (Gen. xxiv. 65.)
And Tamar disguised herself with her vail. (Gen.
xxxviii. 14.) Indeed, so much the use of vails
was observed in the eastern world, that the mar-
ried women, it is said, were never seen, even in
their families, without the Radid, as they called the
married vail.
These things, will, in some measure, serve to ex-
plain those passages in the apostle Paul's writings
to the Corinthians of the women praying or prophe-
cy ing uncovered, that is, unvailed, because it
implied the want of chastity. And this one cir-
cumstance alone leads us into a proper apprehen-
sion of the apostle's whole discourse. (See 1 Cor.
xi. 3—15.)
There is a great beauty in that passage of the
Songs respecting the church, which, if explained
to us in allusion to the custom of vails, becomes
very sweet and interesting. " The watchmen (said
she) that went about the city found me, they smote
me, they wounded me : the keepers of the walls
took away my vail from me." (Song v. 7.) If the
reader enters into the full apprehension of the
custom of the vail, he will consider the spouse of
Christ as here clothed with her Radid, her marriage
vail, shewing who she was, and that she was in sub-
jection to her own husband, (Ephes. v. 23, 24.)
seeking him in the ordinances, which are here
called the streets of the city, were she ought to
seek him ; and the watchmen, the ministers of the
910
V A
gospel, found her in this enquiry, but instead of
comforting her with some new and sweet view of
her Lord, speaking to her in her then dispirited
case and circumstances, in shewing her the safety
of a soul justified in Christ's blood and righteous-
ness, however dark and uncomfortable in herself ;
instead of this, the keepers took away her vail, her
covering in Christ, treated her as if a strumpet, as
though she was not married to Jesus, and had no
right to the Radid, or marriage vail.
I pause over this view of the subject to ask my
own heart, while I desire the reader to consult
his own also, whether this treatment may not in the
present hour be too often shewn to the church, the
spouse of Christ, in numberless instances of the
individual members of his mystical body, when
ministers, watchmen, and keepers of the walls of
Zion, instead of strengthening seeking souls in the
Lord Jesus's blood and righteousness, are taking
away their confidence in him, to direct them in seek-
ing somewhat in themselves. Oh, how little do the
best-taught ministers of Christ know of their peo-
ple's sorrows, and of Jesus's all-suitableness and all-
sufficiency ! But to take away the believer's Radid,
her marriage vail, her wedding garment, her nup-
tial band, in Christ, oh ! what a wounding, what a
smiting, of a poor sin-sick soul must this be ! And
it is possible yea, more than possible, that. Christ's
own ministers may but too often fall into this
error, when, instead of making Christ what God the
Father had made him, the Alpha and Omega of
his church, they are directing their people to some-
what besides Jesus for comfort and consolation .
The general direction to what is called experience,
by way of confidence, is a sad instance of this
kind.
While speaking of vails, I must not forget to
v
V A
notice the vail of the temple, which was appointed
by the Lord to separate the outer place where the
daily service was performed from the holy of holies,
into which the high priest entered once in a year,
on the great day of atonement. We have the ac-
count of it, Exod. xxvi, &c. Lev. xvi. — and these
Scriptures are again blessedly explained to the
church by the Holy Ghost, Heb. ix. 1—12.
That this vail was figurative and typical, need not
be insisted upon. The most superficial attention to
Scripture very fully shews this. The human nature
of the Lord Jesus was no doubt represented by the
temple itself; hence Jesus spake of the temple of
his body. (John ii. 9 — 22.) And the vail of the
temple, forming a separation, and none but the
high priest passing within it, and that only once
in a year, and even not without blood, those were
too striking particularities not to be understood as
pointing to him who hath entered with his own
blood into " heaven itself, there to appear in the
presence of God for us."
But the fullest and most delightful explanation
of the vail of the temple, was given in the moment
of our Lord's death on the cross ; for when the
Lord Jesus bowed his sacred head, and gave up the
ghost, instantly, we are told, the vail of the temple
was rent in twain, by some invisible hand, from
the top to the bottom ; thus signifiying that now,
from the highest heaven to the lowest earth, Jesus
had opened a new and living way by his blood, and
was now not only entered himself within the vail,
but as our forerunner, and that we should assured-
ly follow him, that " where he is there we might be
also."
And as Jesus had now opened a new and living
way of his people, so he had broken down all the
vails of separation between himself and his re-
912
V A
deemed The Jew and the Gentile were now brought
into one fold, the vail of mysteries, of ordinances,
of darkness, of ignorance, of blindness, in short the
vail of all obstructions was now no more. Jesus
had now, agreably to his prophecy, destroyed in
[ his holy mountain the church * the face of the co-
vering cast over all people, and the vail that was
spread over all nations." (Isa. xxv. 7.)
And it. is a sweet addition to all those precious
views of the Lord Jesus removing every vail in his
church, when he hath in the heart of his redeemed
also taken away the vail of unbelief, and opened,
to the soul's comfort, sweet and soul-ravishing
views of his own person and glory. Reader, think
what a glorious object will that day, that wonderful
day, open to the soul, when Jesus, removing the
last vail of death, shall appear in all his beauty
to take home his redeemed to himself, and when
they, awakening up after his likeness, shall be
fully and eternally satisfied with his presence for
ever.
VALLEY. We meet with an account of numberless
vallies and vales in the Scripture. There is the
valley of Achor, for a door of hope. (Hos. ii. 15 )
The valley of Baca, a place of Bochim, or weeping.
(Judges, ii. 1.) The valley of Eshcol, or grapes.
(Num. xxxii. 9.) In short they are too numerous
to be all noticed in this little work. But by valley
the scriptural and figurative sense is, this lower
world. Hence Ezekiel's vision in the valley of the
dry bones. (See Ezek. xxxvii. ] — 14.) 1 would
only beg to call the reader's attention to a beauti-
ful instance in point, where Jesus, speaking of
'" visiting his church, useth this figure, "I went down
(said Christ) into the garden of nuts, to see the
fruits of the valley ; and to see whether the vine
flourished, and the pomegranate budded " (Song
913
vi. 11.) What an endeariug representation this is
of Jesus, coming down into the valley of our world,
and taking- notice of his own graces given by
himself to his own people. Sweet thought to com-
fort every poor fearful believer !
VINE and VINEYARD. The holy Scriptures
abound with the most lovely representations of Christ
and his church under these similitudes ; and it is not
to be wondered at. The hill-country of Jud'ea
abounded with the richest and most luxurious vines.
Therefore when the church would speak of her be-
loved, she called him, " a cluster of cypress in the
vineyards of Engedi." (Song i. 14.) And evidently
on this account, because Jesus is not one blessing,
but every one and all. In his person, blood, and
righteousness, the church finds an Eshcol, a cluster
of all divine perfections, all suited grace, all glory.
Hence some read the words of the church in this
lovely song, Esh col copher, that is, the man that
hath atoned, and is all things of blessing.
And as the church, taught by the Holy Ghost,
sings her Epithalamium, or nuptial song, to the
praise of Jesus, under the similitude, the Lord
Jesus sings his love-song to the same figure :
" I am the vine, saith Jesus, and ye are the
branches." (John xv. 1, &c.) But I must not en-
large on those topics, how sweet soever they
are. The reader will find numberless clusters
of them in the sacred word. (Gen. xlix. 11. Ps.
lxxx. 1, &c. Songvii. 8 — 12, &c.)
VIPER. The Hebrews called the viper Peten,
Ephre. It is frequently spoken of in Scripture,
and not uufrequently in allusion to the great
enemy of souls. (Job xx. 16. Isa. xxx. 6.) And
the Lord Jesus in the gospel called the children
of the evil one a generation of vipers, (Matt. xii.
34 ; xxiii. 33.)
VOL. vi. 3 N
914
VIRGIN. The Jews had certainly a distinction
in the meaning" of this word. When they spoke
of a young woman simply as such, they content-
ed themselves with the expression of youth ;
but when they meant to speak of a virgin, they
called her Almah, and generally subjoined, as
in the instance of Rebekah, " neither had any
man known her, " (Gen. xxiv. 16.) and the He-
brew word Almah, at once expresseth this, for
it means concealed. Hence the Virgin Mary, by
way of distinction is thus spoken of, implying
that she was after, as well as before, the birth
of Christ, the Almah. See Mary.
VISION. This word hath several significations in
Scripture. In the first ages of the world the
Lord was pleased to manifest himself to the
children of God by vision ; sometimes by open
revelations, at other times by dreams in the
night. (Gen. xv. 1, &c ; xlvi. 2.) Beside these,
the books of the prophets are called visions.
(Isa. i. 1.) And even in the after-ages, when
Jesus had finished his redemption work, and was
returned to glory, the Apostle Paul speaks of
visions. (2 Cor. xii. l,&c.)
VOW. We meet with numberless circumstances
in the Old Testament Scripture respecting
vows. It is our happiness, however, under the
New Testament dispensation, that we are brought
under no particular ordinance concerning them.
The dedication of the heart to the Lord doth
not come under the article of a vow, because,
in a believer, the offering the soul to God in
Christ is in the Lord's strength. A vow in man
savours of human strength too strongly to come
under the character of the gospel dispensation.
U N
915
u
ULAI. The memorable river near the city of
Shushan, from the banks of which Daniel heard
the man's voice. (Dan. viii. 16.) When we
consider what is soid of the voice of the Lord
God, walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, Gen. iii. 8 ; when we mark the same
grace manifested upon many occasions during
the Old Testament dispensation, 1 Sam. iii. 4 ;
1 Kings xix. 9 ; and when we call to mind,
the numberless sweet and gracious tokens of the
Lord Jesus, manifested to his servants in the
early ages, before he openly tabernacled in
substance of our flesh : may we not venture
to suppose this voice to have been Him, who in
after ages openly tabernacled among us ? I
only humbly propose the question. I by no means
presume to decide upon it. Some have called
this river Ubal, Ulai ; because Ubal is the name
of the river itself, and Ulai defines the partioular
one by name.
UNBELIEF. It should seem that amidst the
deadly poison infused into our nature by the
great enemy of souls, this of unbelief was his
master-piece of contrivance. And to say the
truth, it is of all others, the most diabolical
and ruinous. For it denies the sovereignty of di-
vine mercy : it sets at nought the infinite merit
and value of Christ's blood and righteousness.
It is said concerning the Lord Jesus in the days
of his flesh, " diat he did not many mighty works
there, because of their unbelief." (Matt. xiii.
58.) Yea, the Lord declares the sin of unbelief
to be unpardonable : u He that believeth not
shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16.) And his ser-
3 N 2
916
U N
vant, the beloved apostle, confirms the awful
account, when in the close of the canon of Scrip-
ture, he saith that " the fearful and unbelieving
shall have their part in the lake which burnetii
with fire and brimstone ; which is the second
death." (Rev. xxi. 8.) How solemnly the apostle
to the Hebrews sums up the history of those
whose carcases fell in the wilderness, when he
saith, " So we see that they could not enter in be-
cause of unbelief." (Heb. iii. 19.)
UNCTION. It is not to be wondered at that the
Israelites had such frequent use of anointings,
when we consider that the very order of their
institution as a church and people, was to be
looking for the coming of the Messiah, that is,
the anointed One. Hence their kings, priests,
vessels, and all things consecrated, had the unc-
tion. (See Exod. xxx. 23.)
How holy and blessed is it to the church of Jesus
now, to discover that in this unction, thus figura-
tively set forth in the old church, all the outlines of
tl*e Lord Jesus anointing by the Holy Ghost, and
the church also in him were displayed. Now, as
Christ the Messiah could not have been Christ,
that is, anointed, but by the Holy Ghost's anointing,
so neither could the church have been his church,
his spouse, his beloved, and the only one of her
mother, (Song vi. 9.) but by the anointing also of
God the Holy Ghost. Hence then itshould be con-
sidered, (and I beg the pious reader to consider it,
and keep it in remembrance proportioned to its in-
finite importance) as Christ is called Messiah,
that is Christ, as the anointed of God, before he
openly appeared at his incarnation, so the church
of Christ is called his church ; and for which, in
salvation-work, Christ was made Christ, before
lie was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; nor, as
U N
917
the Son of God, had it not been for his church's
sake, ever would have been sent by the Father,
neither would have taken our nature into the
Godhead, neither have been anointed by the Holy
Ghost. So by his becoming the anointed for this ex-
press purpose, proves the original anointing of the
church in him, and for him ; and sets forth the ever-
lasting love of all the persons of the Godhead to
the church of Christ in all ages.
UNPERFECT. Though we meet with this word
but once in the whole Bible, namely, Psa. cxxxix.
16, vet, as in the two translations we have of the
Psalms, the word in the one is rendered imperfect,
which in the other is rendered unperfect, and as
the difference is very striking when properly con-
sidered, I think it an object of no small moment in
a work of this kind, to guard the reader against an
error into which he may be apt to fall for want of
due attention in this particular.
1 am well aware that with the generality of rea-
ders, the words imperfect, and unperfect, are con-
sidered the same. But this is a mistake. For not
to remark that though a thing may be said to be
unperfect, because unfinished, which when finished
would be no longer unperfect ; yet imperfect may
not simply mean because unfinished, for when
finished, it may be imperfect still. So that the
words themselves are, in their original sense and
meaning, not the same ; and can by no rule be
used synonimously. But in the instance before us
in this Psalm, by the substituting one for the other
we are led to a very dangerous conclusion.
Let the reader remember, that Christ, under the
Spirit of prophecy, is speaking in this Psalm of his
substance, his body, and which in another Scrip-
ture, he is introduced as saying to his Father K A
body hast thou prepared me," (Heb. x. 5.) com-
918
U N
pared with Psalm xl. 6.) Now in this Psalm also
Christ is speaking to the Father, and saith :
" Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being- un-
perfect : and in this book all my members were
written, which in continuance were fashioned, (or
as the margin of the Bible renders it what days
they should be fashioned,) when as yet there was
none of them."
In whatever sense therefore the expressions are
taken with respect to this substance, this body of
Christ, whether personally of Christ himself, or of
his members, the church, whose names are else-
where said to be written in the book of life, or of
both Christ and his church ; in either case, and in
all, the sense must be the same as to the perfec-
tion of this substance. It never could be said to
be imperfect. It might be, and indeed it was un-
perfect, because unfinished : that is, as it was to
be finished in the full manifestation of Christ in
substance of our flesh in what is called in Scripture
language, the fulness of time, (Gal. iv. 4.) But in
point of perfection, it was always perfect to his
comprehensive view, before whom, past, present,
and to come, forms but one and the same object.
And in this one, complete whole of perfection in Je-
hovah's esteem, hath Christ and his members been
beheld from all eternity ! Hence, therefore, to read
the passage as it now stands in our reading Psalms,
imperfect, is an error, and of the greatest kind.
And the word which the Septuagints have made
use of in this Psalm, (as the learned cannot but
know) implies no more when rendered imperfect
than of a substance which though perfect in itself in
point of perfection in all its component parts, yet
waits the perfection of being all brought into one
and compounded together. (A katergaston, from
Katergazomai.)
919
It may not be generally known perhaps by the
readers of this Poor Man's Concordance, that the
reading Psalms as they are called, and which are
used in our churches, are taken from Cranmer's
Bible, first published in Henry the Eighth's time,
1539. Whereas the Psalms in our Bibles are from
the translation in James the First's days, 1605.
I cannot close this article without expressing my
wish that the faithful of the Lord's people may
always use the word unperfect, instead of imper-
fect, when reading this most blessed verse, in
this most blessed Psalm. Every thing is perfect
in Him who is himself the perfection of beauty, and
the praise of all his saints. And oh, for grace to
see the church's perfection in him who is the Lord
our righteousness, and " who is made of God to us
wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and re-
demption : that, according as it is written, he that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Cor. i.
30.)
UPHAZ. We read of the gold of Uphaz, perhaps
the same as Opher : the certain man, Daniel, saw
in a vision, had his loins apparently girded with it.
(Dan. x. 5.) The church speaks of her Lord's head,
as of this gold. (Song v. 11.) And John's account
of the Lord Jesus Christ is much to the same
amount. (Rev. i. 13, &c.) What sublime descrip-
tions they all are of the glories of his person.
But how infinitely short of what Christ really
is!
UR. The memorable spot from whence the Lord
called Abraham when an idolater. Sweet thought
to the believer ! It is Jehovah's grace, and not
man's deserts, even in the instance of an Abraham,
that is the sole cause of salvation. Some make
Ur to mean light or fire, from Aor. (Gen. xi. 28.)
URIAH. A name memorable in the history of David
920
u z
(2 Sam. xL 5, 6.) His Dame is a compound of Ur,
light ; and jah, the Lord. Hence Uriah means,
the Lord is my light.
URIM. The Uriru and Thummim are supposed to
have been the precious stones worn by the high
priest upon his breast-plate, when going into the
temple, and before the mercy seat. The mean-
ing is supposed to be lights and perfections. But
farther than these explanations, the multitude of
commentators have not advanced. It is the happi-
ness of the church in Jesus, however, to look to all
the shadows of the law, through the medium of the
gospel, and to discover every thing in the former
as ministering but to the latter. So that when
Aaron was thus adorned and went in before the
propitiatory, he represented our Almighty Aaron,
who was, and is himself, both the light and the
life, the perfection, and the glory of all his redeem-
ed. Hence when Moses in his dying prediction of
the children of Israel, declared that Jehovah's
Urim and Thummim should be with his Holy One,
none could be alluded to but the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in him, the whole tendency of both, had their
accomplishment.
UZ. This was the land made memorable by the
dwelling of Job. The name seems to be taken
from Hetz, counsel.
UZZAH. We have the short but striking history of
this man, in 2 Sam vi. 3 — 8. His name, if it be
as is supposed, derived from Hazaz, means strength.
In consequence of his sudden death, David called
the place where the Lord smote Uzzah, Perez-
Uzzah, that is, as the margin of the Bible renders
it, The breach of Uzzah. I refer the reader to the
passage for the account of it.
It hath been a subject of much enquiry with
some, what there was so highly offensive in Uzzah's
W A
921
conduct to bring forth so awful a judgment. But
the answer is not far. It appears that the ark was
exposed to view, whereas it ought to have been
concealed. For upon a former occasion the Lord
made a great slaughter among the men of Bethshe-
mesh, for looking into the ark. (See 1 Sam. vi. 19.)
This, Uzzah, as a Levite, should have prevented.
And certainly the carrying the ark on a cart, and
causing it to be drawn by oxen, was a violation' of
the law ; for the Lord provided how the sons of
Aaron were to prepare for the covering of the ark,
and how the sons of Kohath, were to bear it on
their shoulders. (See Num. iv. 5 — 15. and vii. 9.)
Add to these, the hasty and irreverenttouch of Uzzah
might have been done in such a way as incurred
the just judgment of the Lord. We may at least
learn from hence with what reverence and godly
fear the Lord is to be approached in ordinances. And
we ought to learn moreover the blessedness of our
privileges, in having such an High Priest as the
Lord Jesus, in whom, and through whom, we have
access to a mercy seat, " to obtain mercy and find
grace to help in all time of need."
W.
WALL. This word is used in Scripture, not unfre-
quently figuratively. Sometimes the Lord speaks
of himself as "a wall of fire round about his peo-
ple." (Zech. ii. 5.) And as a fence of safety in his
salvation, which are Israel's walls and bulwarks.
(Isaiah xxvi. 1.) And the church describes Jesus as
standing behind our wall and looking forth at the
windows, when representing the wall of our mortal
flesh, obscuring the otherwise glorious views the
922
W A
soul would have of his beauty, and which the soul
will have when the spirit shall be disembodied.
(Song it 9 .)
WALKING. In the language of Scripture, this is
frequently made use of to denote the state of the
soul before God. Thus the Lord commanded Abra-
ham : u I am the Almighty God, walk before me,
and be thou perfect." (Gen. xvii. 1.) Where it is
blessed to observe that the Lord in the precept
gives the ability to perform, and gives his glorious
name as the security for Abraham's doing it. He that
is God Almighty (the El Shaddai) wills the patri-
arch into the perfection he is to walk in. We have
a similar passage. (John xv. 4.) On the contrary, to
walk in darkness, implies the state of darkness of
the mind. (1 John i. 47.)
WASHING. In Scripture language the act of wash-
ing carries with it an interest in the service for
which it is observed. Thus, Jesus washes his disci-
ples' feet. (John xiii. 3 — 12.) Hence the apostle
speaking of the truly regenerated in Christ saith,
u Now ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justi-
fied in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. vi. 11.) And the
redeemed in glory are represented as having
u washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 14.)
We are so little acquainted with the customs of
the East that it is next to an impossibility to have
a full and clear apprehension of the signification of
washing as expressed in the Scriptures. It will be
enough for all our purposes however to consider in
general, that it had in spiritual concerns a blessed
intimation in those that were washed of being par-
takers in the pardoning and sanctifying blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. (Psa. li. 2. Acts xxii.
Rev. i. 5.)
W E
923
WATER. In the language of Scripture, this word
hath numberless applications made of it, but in a pe-
culiar manner is principally made use of in relation
to the person, work, and offices of God the Holy
Ghost. For as water is essentially necessary to
animal life, so is the blessed Spirit to spiritual life.
But it would form a subject in itself, and fill a vo-
lume, to shew how many and how various the ways
by which the Holy Ghost is represented in the Bible
under this sweet figure, as supplying the church
with living water. Hence he is called the u water of
life, a well of water springing up in the soul to ever-
lasting life." And he is described as quickening the
marshy ground ; cleansing, refreshing, comforting,
cooling, and strengthening the souls of his people,
by the continued streams of his grace. "There is a
river (said the Psalmist) the streams whereof do
make glad the city of God." (Psa. xlvi. 4.) It
should not be overlooked or forgotten also, that
each and all of the persons of the Godhead are so
described in the word of God, and which by the
way, let it be observed, becomes a decided proof of
the unity of the Godhead, while it no less shews the
distinction of person. Hence, God the Father is set
forth by the prophet as a fountain. (Jer. ii. 13.)
God the Son as a fountain. (Zech. xiii. 1. Songiv.
15.) And God the Holy Ghost as a fountain, filling
the hearts of the redeemed, and causing them to
overflow in the day of Christ. (John vii. 38.)
WEDDING GARMENT. The custom of the East
at their marriage feasts, can only explain that ex-
pression of our Lord in his parable, (Matt. xxii. 11.)
of the man that had not on a wedding garment.
The uniform custom at all marriages, even among
the poorer sort, was to make presents of clothing
to the persons invited. And for the king's son in his
marriage, which the parable represents, the pre-
924
W E
sents must have been splendid indeed. An Eastern
writer, describing a nuptial feast in the year 1612,
speaks of a retinue of mules laden with tapestry,
cloth of gold, of velvet, and satin, and other riches
which were to be used upon this occasion. There-
fore for the king on coming in to see his guests, to
find there a man without the wedding garment, im-
plied such a contempt to his person, and to his
son's marriage, as might well justify the anger
shewn.
And as the parable of Jesus on this subject was
wholly figurative, and with an eye to the gracious
marriage of the Son of God with our nature, nothing
could have been more happily chosen to have
shewn the awful consequence of the unbeliever, in
his appearing now at ordinances, and finally at the
last day, at judgment ; unclothed with the right-
eousness of Christ, and standing naked and defence-
less in his own sinful nature, when the King shall
come in to the marriage supper of the Lamb in
heaven ! It would be well if every man who is look-
ing for acceptance, either wholly or in part from
any garment of his own, would pause over the awful
subject of such contumacy and self-righteousness !
WEIGHING. I should not have thought it needful
to have called the reader's attention to this article
of weighing, but for a particular circumstance, and
which I am inclined to think serves to elucidate to
an English reader, a very interesting passage in
Scripture.
It is too well known to need my pointing out
that in the article of money among the Hebrews,
their estimate of gold and silver, was by weight
and not by any standard of coin. Thus Abraham
when he bought ground of the sons of Heth, weigh-
ed the money agreed upon, four hundred shekels
of silver, " current money with the merchant." (Gen.
VV E 923
xxiii. 16.) In like manner, when at the appointment
of the Lord, Jeremiah bought the field of his uncle's
son, he weighed him the money, even seventeen
shekels of silver. (Jer. xxxii. 8, 9.)
From hence it appears that the real value of
money was ascertained by weighing. And this
gives a beautiful explanation concerning the Lord's
declaration of Belshazzar, by the hand writing on
the wall, " Thou art weighed in the balances, and
found wanting." (Dan. v. 27.) With us in our En-
glish customs, base coin becomes for the most part
the cause of its not passing. But the want of weight
with the eastern manners was the sad prevention,
and it serves to shew the solemn doctrine of rejec-
tion most strikingly.
I shall be forgiven I hope, if on the credit of one
of the eastern writers, I relate that it is the custom
with them to weigh their monarch once in every
year, and generally on his birth-day. It should seem
to be more than probable that the custom, however
it was derived, was taken from Daniel's history of
Belshazzar. But, that the eastern prince of those mo-
dern days might never come into the condemnation,
or even the apprehension of such an event as took
place to the Chaldean monarch, the eastern prince
is put into one of the scales for trial, and his weight
is made out by silver in the other, which afterwards
is distributed to the poor. What a sweet thought
is it to the believer in Jesus that he is weighed
only in person of his Lord, where can be found no
lightness or deficiency ! Jesus's righteousness is
indeed "current money with the merchant." (Song,
iii. 6.)
WELLS, or SPRINGS, of WATER. The He-
brews prized their wells or springs as the chiefest
of all their [treasure. Hence their contests about
them. (See Gen. xxvi. 18 — 22.) The general name
886
XV I
they gave a well or spring was beer. Hence Hagar
called the well where she had found the Lord'spre-
sence eminently blessed, Beer lahai-roi, that is, as
the margin of the Bible renders it, "the well of
him that liveth and seeth me." (Gen. xvi. 14.) And
hence also we find the name of Beer, a well ; joined
to words denoting places, such as Beersheba, &c.
There is a well eminently spoken of, Numb. xxi.
16 — 18. Perhaps the reader may be led by the Holy
Ghost to discover muchof Christ in thissongof Israel*
WINE. Wine in Scripture is frequently put for some
choice thing. Thus when Jesus wrought his first
miracle in Cana, of Galilee, in turning the water
into wine ; as this set forth the glories of his per-
son and righteousness, it might be truly said the
gospel then preached, compared to all former re-
velations, was keeping the best wine to the last ;
(John ii. 11, 12.) and hence the gospel itself is
called wine on the lees well refined. (Isaiah xxv. 6.)
But the sweetest commendation of Jesus and his
gospel, is that which under the similitude of wine is
given by the spouse, (Song i. 2.) where she desires
to be kissed with the kisses of Jesus's mouth, for,
said she, thy love is better than wine. And for this
self-evident reason. Wine no doubt is a delightful
cordial, and properly used will tend, under the di-
vine blessing, to revive a poor sick and sorrowful
heart. But never was it known to do what Christ's
love hath done, to raise a sinner dead in trespasses
and sins. Oh, precious love of a most precious
Saviour! Surely here every one must allow that
Jesus's love is better than wine. Here the largest
draughts can never injure as the juice of the grape;
but as Jesus gives, so may souls receive the largest
portions, not only unhurt, but more blessed. His
language is : " Eat, O friends : drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved!" (Song v. 1.)
w o
927
WISDOM. This is one of the names of the Son of
God, as Mediator ; Christ the wisdom of God.
That is by covenant engagement in the ancient set-
tlements of eternity. (See Prov. viii. throughout
1 Cor. i. 24.)
Wisdom is also used as a term in Scripture to
denote somewhat supernatural, and in opposition
to carnal blindness. (James iii. 14, 15.) The He-
brews called it Cachemah.
WITNESS. The Holy Ghost is said by the Lord
Jesus to be his witness, and to testify of him, John
xv. 26. And the apostle Paul saith, (Rom. viii. 26.)
that this Almighty person, in his office-charac-
ter, witnesseth to the Lord's family that they are
the children of God. And it is most blessed to
every child of God at one time or the other to re-
ceive this testimony of the Holy Ghost, witnessing
to their adoption character. He it is that convinc-
eth the heart of sin, and proves in the conscience
the absolute necessity of Christ. He it is that
causeth the glory, the beauty, the suitableness,
and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, to ap-
pear to the soul what Jesus is, and at the same
time persuades the soul into the love of him. And
he it is that both gives a conviction to the heart of
the firmness and security of all the promises of
God in Christ Jesus, and witnesseth to the safety
of every- believer's gracious estate in Christ
Jesus, in testifying that all the promises of God in
him are Yea, and in him Amen. Blessed Spirit of
all truth, do thou witness to my personal safety in
Christ Jesus, as being the earnest of the promised
inheritance !
WOMB. I should not have stopped at this word,
but from a wish to offer a word on the subject as
it concerns the virgin's womb. I humbly conceive
that the womb of the virgin was altogether passive,
928
w o
(except in the simple act of consenting to the deed)
in the conception of Jesus in the womb. For when
the angel announced to the Virgin Mary the mi-
raculous incarnation, and when to the seeming
impossibilities of the thing itself, as it appeared to
her, the angel explained how it should be accom-
plished by the miraculous impregnation of the
Holy Ghost, Mary at once consented to the deed
— Be it unto me according to thy word — and im-
mediately the work was wrought. (Luke i. 31, &c.)
And to this agrees the prophecy of the psalmist,
(Ps. cxxxix. 13.) " Thou hast covered me in my
mother's womb." See all that follows to this
amount in the succeeding verses of that glorious
psalm, until Jesus comes to speak by the same spirit
of prophecy in it, to the writing of all the names of
his members, meaning every individual of his body
the church, in the book of life. And hence the
Lord Jesus, in another prophecy, had ages before
said, " The Lord hath called me from the womb."
(Isa. xlix. 1.) So that from hence we see the wil-
lingness of the Virgin, and the consent of Christ,
at the call of his Father, and both together serving
to illustrate and explain, as far as the nature of the
mysterious subject can be explained, the wonderful
transaction.
WORD. In Scripture this is used for the uncreated
word, which John calls Christ by, in relation to his
eternal power and Godhead, (John i. 1,) &c. — and
also the written word, the word of God, which the
Hebrews called Dabar. See Christ.
WORLD. The Scriptures not only mean by this
word to describe the heavens and the earth, but
not unfrequently it is put for the people. Hence
the apostle saith, " the world (that is, mankind) by
wisdom knew not God." (1 Cor. i. 21. J The term by
which the Hebrews marked the universe wasThebel.
909
WORM. This is sometimes hVurativeU ased. The
Lord Jesus calls himself a worm and no man,
(Ps. xxii. 6.) to intimate the unparalleled humilitv
of his person. Hence, Jehovah :?peaking to Christ,
under the character of Jacob, saith, Fear not, thou
worm Jacob! (Isa. xli. 14.) Sometimes the word
is also used by way of figure, to represent the tor-
ments of the damned. a Their worm, saith Jesus/'
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," Mark ix.
44. — 43. Some of the old writers have contend-
ed, however, that this worm, here spoken of by
Christ, is not in figure, but in reality. Of this
opinion was Austin.
Y
YEA. I detain the reader at this word in order to
mark the peculiar sweetness of it. Our gracious
Lord in recommending it to his disciples, evidently
shewed that there was somewhat interesting in it.
" Let your communication (said Jesus) be Yea, vea,
Nay. nay ; for whatsoever is more than these, cometh
of evil." (Matt. v. 37.) I would not be understood,
as speaking decidedly on any point where God the
Holy Ghost hath not done it : but I venture to ask,
did not our gracious Lord, mean by this recommen-
dation to shew that the Yea, yea, of his people,
should be in contemplating the verily, verilv, of
himself? And if with an eye to him, our vea had
a frequent use, would there not be a peculiar sweet-
ness derived from it ?
YEAR. The Jewish year differed much in point of
time, before, and after their sojourning in Egvpt ;
and unless we could (which now is impossible) as-
certain with more clearness whether their calcula-
tions^were made by what is called the solar vear,
vol. vi. 3 o
930
or the lunar year, that is, by the revolution of the
sun, or moon — it is not possible to determine with
accuracy the point. But all difficulties vanish in
respect to the different periods of calculation, by
whatever mode they are calculated, if we only are
careful to consider the different dates from whence
they take their calculation. As for example — in the
promise the Lord made to Abram, (Gen. xv. 13.)
concerning' the affliction of his seed in a strange
land, and their deliverance from it, the Lord mark-
ed the period, four hundred years ; but in counting
up the time when that deliverance took place,
Moses makes it "four hundred and thirty years."
But the period of both, is precisely the same, when
the difference is allowed from the different dates of
the commencement, or time, the account begau.
When it is said, as in Gen. xv. 13, " four hundred
years," it is connected with the birth of Isaac, which
was thirty years after Abraham left Chaldea, and
consequently, this period must be added to the ac-
count ; and thus it will be found, by a parity of cal-
culation in the several statements the Jewish year
at different times gives. See Hour.
YESTERDAY. In Scripture language, this ex-
pression doth not simply mean the day which pre-
ceded the present, but sometimes refers to the eter-
nity of ages past. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ is
said to be the same " yesterday, and to-day, and for
ever." (Heb. xii. 8.) That is, the yesterday, before
creation ; to-day, meaning the whole period of time
from the creation, to the consummation of all things j
and for ever, including the whole eternity to
come, when time shall be no more. Sweet thought
to the believer in Jesus, both as it concerns the
nature and essence of Christ, and as it refers to the
everlasting sameness and unceasing efficacy of his
redemption and love to his church and people I
Amen.
y3!
Z
ZACCHEUS. I stop lo note a circumstance in the
history of the conversion of Zaccheus, which de-
serves attention. The Lord Jesus observed, when
speaking of the salvation that was then to come to
his house, " for so much as he also is a son of Abra-
ham." (Luke xix. 1 — 10.) Now if Zaccheus was,
as is Generally supposed, a Gentile by birth, this
sonship in Abraham must have been as Paul speaks
of it, spiritually, * If ye be Christ, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the pro-
mise." (Gal. iii. 29.) I do not speak positively
upon the subject ; but the office of a Publican or
Taxgatberer among the Romans was so invidious
an employment that few of the Jews would engage
in it. So that it is probable, Zaccheus might have
been a gentile. And hence, by the way, a sweet
testimony to that blessed truth, that Christ was
given both for a light to lighten the Gentiles, and
to be the glory of his people Israel. (Isaiah xlix. 6.)
Luke ii. 32 ) If Zaccheus derived his name, as is
supposed, from Zacac, of the Syriac, meaning just,
or justified ; the name was truly applicable to the
person, justified freely as he was in the salvation
of Christ.
ZECHARIAH. We meet with many of this name
in Scripture, and it is not to be wondered at, when
we consider the sense of it, and the general desire
which the Hebrews all had, to carry somewhat in
name, which referred to the Lord. Zachar means
memory, and Jah the Lord. Zachariah therefore,
seemed to intimate the hope, that the person so
called should be remembered of the Lord.
3 o 2
932 Z E
ZADOK. A memorable name in the history of
David. See both the books of Samuel. His name
is derived from a root, signifying just.
ZEAL. We can have no lively idea of this word,
but as it is made use of by the Lord Jesus Christ.
But when we hear that blessed Holy One, bv the
spirit of prophecy, crying out, "the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up." (Ps. Ixix. 9.) And when
we behold in confirmation of it, such a miracle as
scourging from the temple the multitude of those
who performed it — a miracle, properly considered,
almost as great as any Christ performed on earth ;
such a view of Jesus may, but nothing else can,
give a lively idea of zeal ! (John ii. 13 — 17.)
ZEBEDEE. He was the father of two apostles,
James, and John. His name seems to have been de-
rived from Zabad, portion. Hence also, Zebadiah,
portion of the Lord. (Matt. iv. 21.)
ZEBOIM. One of the cities of the plain. (Gen xiv.
2.) The word appears to be plural, and probably
the place abounded with deer and goats, as the
word means.
ZEBULUN, or ZEBULON. A place in Caper-
naum. (Matt. iv. 13.) One of Jacob's sons was call-
ed by this name, to whom a blessed promise was
given. (Gen. xxx. 20. Deut. xxxiii. 18. compared
with Gen. xlix. 13.) Perhaps, the root of this name
is Zabad, to endow, or finish.
ZEDEKIAH. There are several of this name in
Scripture ; and it is no wonder, being a compound
of Zedek, justice — and Jah, Lord. The Lord is my
judge. And how very blessed is such a name,
considered with an eye to Christ, the justifier of
his redeemed !
ZEPHAN1AH. An eminent prophet, though his
writings are small. His name is a compound, from
Tzaphan, secret — and Jah, the Lord. And very
suited was this name to the prophet ; for much of
the Lord Jesus is in his prophecy, when opened
and explained by God the Holy Ghost. Hence,
that Scripture, "the secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him, and he will shew them his cov-
enant." (Ps. xxv. 14.)
ZERUBBABEL, or ZOROBABEL. A man much
engaged in building the second temple. (Zech. iv.
6, 7.) The name seems to have been derived
from Zer, stranger — and Babel, confusion.
ZERUIAH. Well known m David's history. Per-
haps from Tsarar, chains.
ZION. See Mount Zion.
ZO AR. The city of Lot's refuge. The very name
signifies little. (Gen. xix. 22.)
THE END OF VOL. VI.
B. BF.NSI.EY, PRINTER, ANDOVER.
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